Fullmetal Dance
by Heuvel
Summary: Maria is an aspiring future Julliard student that is sent through a transmutation into the year of 1918 in Amestris via train and discovered by Mustang and his men. Upon finding out her last name, Mustang sees fit to call in the Fullmetal Alchemist. Ed/OC
1. Chapter 1

_"Next stop…Central."_

New York was always one of the coldest cities in North America during the winter, and especially the winter of 2010, where Maria was standing next to a pole in the middle of the subway car, waiting for Grand Central Station.

She had been Christmas shopping. Her mother, an artist that painted for advertisements and children's books, asked simply for more paint and more brushes. And her little sister asked for absolutely anything Barbie. And it was paints and a couple of Barbies that Maria had bought on her shopping trip. That, and a few extra scarves.

Her parents divorced right after her little sister, who is now eight, was born. And it was sad. Losing one of the strongest male figures in one's life is always sad. But the fact that he asked her mother to keep the children and he'd much rather pay child support and send cards two weeks after their birthday was sadder. He had remarried three months after the divorce was final, and has a new family in a better part of town. Maria flinched as one of the bright lights from a station flashed her in the eyes, but she attempted to ignore it and situate her bags. Her father had asked her to stay with him and his new family for the weekend-it had been her first time-and this was why she was carrying a large duffle bag and three shopping bags, and her purse. She had debated on just going shopping tomorrow, but Christmas was only a week away and tomorrow marked the urgent shopping last minute season, and she didn't want to be a part of that.

She attended a dance school in the middle of Manhattan and tended to wear baggy fashion clothes and tight pants almost everyday at school. Her legs were long and her body was slim because they had to be, and her whole stature was short, because it was easier for her to be thrown and tossed by her dance partner, and her face was clear thanks to her strict diet and exercise. At that moment her brown hair was tied in a loose knot at the base of her head with earmuffs covering her ears from the snow outside, and her small hands had two pairs of gloves on them. She was just about to finish her last year of high school and would then go to Julliard, her dream university, and become a dancer.

She was surprised at how long the train was taking. Granted, it was late. She had taken advantage of late night shopping in New York, but had forgotten the fact that the trains tend to go slower at night. Sighing, she pulled out her cellphone and texted her mother to let her know that she was running late. The message came through as failed, and she could see no bars on the upper right corner. That was also very likely; she was going through a tunnel.

And why would Maria pay attention to where she's going? She had gone on the New York trains all her life. The sounds that the train was making was enough to tell her where she was, let alone just a quick glance out the window and at the graffiti was enough. Even the gentle and smooth sway of the train indicated to Maria where she was; was she turning? Was she stopping? Was she going on the older tracks, which made the entire car sway left and right quickly? Or was she near the country, on which a gentle upwards turn was enough to tell her? No, at the moment, it was rocky and shaky. Which was odd. Maria had never been on these tracks before.

Actually, now that she glanced outside the window to see which graffiti she saw, she realized there was no graffiti. Only brick surrounding the train. And when she finally left the tunnel and got a glimpse of what was outside the train, she closed her eyes quickly because of a bright light. Why would it be daytime? It was 7pm, later even, when she got on the train. Maybe she had gotten onto a wrong platform? That still wouldn't explain the hour of the day, though it possibly could explain why she wasn't in the city anymore, but a vast grassy land. Looking around herself, Maria noted that the carriage of which she was standing was not the boring beige and gray color of New York, but a vibrant brown with old fashioned benches and tables between them. The windows were of thin glass and much larger, allowing the light to shine through across the entire vehicle, and the ceiling was much taller, causing the entire thing to emit one large echo. Echoes which were very loud and hard to understand; that pressed against her and forced her to press herself back against one of the walls, shivering. Where on earth was she?

"This way, General!" A gruff voice called out from another carriage. Maria panicked and in a fit of desperation, started to shove her belongings and herself under one of the benches provided for the passengers; particularly easy for someone of her petit stature and flexibility.

She watched as a group of four pairs of feet covered with thick black boots and royal blue pants shoved into them waltzed into the carriage. They all stopped and Maria heard a door close.

"Nobody's in here, General."

There was a pause, and a smooth and forceful voice said, "We've searched the train from the back to here. There's three more left until we get to the front, which is where I expect her to be. Armstrong, I want you to stay in this carriage. I'll go up to the first and you two will each stay behind in a carriage. Just in case."

"Yes sir."

"She's used her alchemy already…" The smooth voice said, and Maria watched as one pair of feet swiveled to get a three-sixty view of the carriage, "This carriage has been disturbed…"

"How..?"

"I assume a Philosopher's Stone." The voice cut off, "But for what, I don't know…" And the feet landed so that they were facing away from Maria, she let out a breath of relief, "She's a lunatic." The voice continued, and the feet moved to the opposite door of which they entered and opened it, allowing two other pairs of feet to go through the door, and the voice stopped and the feet faced the remaining pair, "Don't hesitate to take her life, Major."

"Yes sir." And the door was closed.

They were talking about Maria, she knew it. She didn't know what alchemy was but she was sure that they were after her. There was no other person than her on this train; she was sure of that. They were going to kill her.

Panic rose in her chest as she watched the largest and remaining pair of feet patrol the small carriage. They were monstrous, and the man whom they belonged to seemed to be the silent killer type. Peeking under one of the seats, Maria saw that the man was large, with blonde hair and the hardest face she'd ever seen. It was true; she was going to die tonight. Or today. Whatever time it was.

There was a sharp turn and a bang at the front of the train, causing Maria's head to collide into the wall of the carriage and she watched as her purse flew up from where it was next to her head into the middle of the floor. Her vision started to flood while the large pair of boots before her started to head to the door that the other three had exited. But she shook her head and rubbed her neck to check if anything was broken; nothing was, and she scrambled from where she was to retrieve her purse since the carriage was finally empty.

There was something happening in the carriage before her, but Maria ignored it and started to pick up her cosmetics. If for some reason she lost her cellphone to a stupid train fight and lived to tell the tale, she'd kill someone.

Gathering everything and checking to make sure it was all in her purse was enough of a task for Maria on a moving and jerking train with a fight happening in the carriage before her. She was sure she just saw fire. Looking up and seeming calm when the door opened to an older man with short jet black hair and sharp eyes was a whole different task; one that she failed. Throwing her purse on the ground, she yelled, "I promise! I didn't do it!"

The man with the black hair stopped abruptly and stared at Maria. He only turned his ear to the carriage behind him when a loud and gruff voice yelled out, "She's gone, General! We lost her!"

"Armstrong, Falman, Havoc, come here!" The man yelled. And Maria watched as three men showed their faces behind their General. One of the men was the one of which Maria saw while she was hiding under the bench, the one with the blonde hair and the hard face, another one with a duller blonde hair and a more relaxed and kind face, and finally a one that was standing straighter than the others and with gray hair, all staring at the girl in front of them. It was the one with dull blond hair and the cigarette in his mouth that said, "What is she wearing?"

Maria glanced down at her clothes. Just a pair of skinny jeans and one of her baggy shirts and a pair of snow boots. Not to mention her thick jacket and her scarves and earmuffs that she seemed to have forgotten since entering the new train. But the man with the black hair didn't seem to notice her clothes, for he started to walk towards her. Maria flinched and started to take a step back, but the man stopped before she could, "I'm Brigadier General Roy Mustang." The General said, "Most of the time they just call me General." He held out his hand to Maria.

Maria reached out her hand slowly and allowed Mustang to shake it firmly before saying, "Maria Heiderich." She said softly.

"Well, Maria!" Mustang said, and he turned to point at the soldiers behind him, "That is Major Alex Armstrong, Lieutenant Voto Falman, and Lieutenant Jean Havoc." And he pointed to each respectfully, "They're my team."

"Pleased to meet you, Maria!" Said Armstrong, and he waltzed over to fervently shake her hand. The other two nodded and smiled.

"So." Mustang said, "Heiderich, mind if I call you that? You seem a little bit out of place. Where do you think you are?"

"I'm in New York. Or.." Maria glanced around, "I thought I was in New York…"

"What is _New York_?" Mustang asked. And for the first time, Maria noticed that the train had stopped.

"It's a city." Maria said softly.

"And what year is it?"

"2010."

There was a giggle from behind Mustang, to which he turned around and said, "Stop that. You'll make her nervous."

"Where am I?" Maria suddenly said, "I'm not in New York, am I?"

"No." Mustang said, but he didn't get the chance to explain.

"I've got to call my mother!" Maria yelled, and she pulled out her cellphone. It was a smart phone, and thus there was no flip or dial, but a quick, "Mom!" that she yelled into the receiver. The dull blond murmured something about possibly pressing a button, but was overshadowed my Maria holding the phone up to her ear and listening. There was a pause, in which she pulled the phone from her ear and glanced at it, "I have no bars."

"…No bars?" Mustang said.

"No reception." She explained. "I can't call home…"

"General." Came the voice of the man with gray hair, who had been silent up to this point, "Maybe we should take her to Central Command. She's not fit to wonder around on her own."

"And do what with her?" Mustang said, turning around to face Falman, "Give her a tour of the city?"

"You're not suggesting we leave her here, General?"

"She'd be safer." Mustang mused, but then he glanced at Maria, "But we would like to know how you got here."

"By train." Maria said, "I was just on the subway, and I went through a tunnel and got here."

Mustang looked at his men, "Did we go through a tunnel, boys?"

"Just before coming into this carriage, sir."

"Heiderich…" Mustang said quietly, "I've heard that name before."

"Sir, the train will leave in two minutes."

"Alright, alright." Mustang said sharply, while pointing to under the bench at Maria's bags, "Grab those. Come on, Heiderich. Let's go check the records."

Maria was led off the train station and through the busy streets of Central. She was completely quiet, only glancing around her to look at the other inhabitants of the city. Most of them looked back, shocked and confused by what she was wearing, but overall unresponsive with military soldiers surrounding her. Maria was sure she heard whispering about who she was, where she came from, and what she was wearing, but she chose to ignore it. She was just in a stupid country town, that's all. And no one in country towns knew the brands she was wearing or the name of the words on her bags. Things like "Macy's" and "Barbie" and "Hollister" would be, to Maria, a foreign thing to country folk. The only thing odd about all this was that it looked like she was in something a bit more advanced than a small town.

Arriving to a large gray and white complex that scared Maria more than impressed her, Mustang turned around and smiled, "This is Central Command. This is where the Military is stationed."

"Military…" Maria echoed while Mustang allowed Armstrong to open the gate and allow the five of them to enter through the large courtyard. Everything about the place looked so clean cut, so ninety degrees, so uniform. While walking in front of the three men while Mustang stayed in front, Maria looked around herself to see other people in the same uniform glancing at her from the corner of their eyes. And finally, when she was let inside to the even more impressive building, of which it was cooled and not homey in the least, more and more people seemed to glance up from their work and observe the newcomer. Mustang and the others acted as though unfazed.

They had to climb a lot of stairs and Maria was only grateful that she didn't have to carry her own bags. And finally, they arrived in a large boring office with a desk near the window and a chair sitting in front of it. A blond women with her hair tied up glanced from her own work and didn't hide her surprise at seeing Maria.

"Take a seat." Mustang ordered, and Maria sat in a chair just in front of his desk. She watched as Armstrong and the others started to search her bags. Mustang glanced over while pulling his phone closer to him, "Don't mind them. They're just making sure you don't have anything dangerous."

"What is this?" Said the dull blonde, taking out his cigarette and holding up Maria's laptop.

"It's my computer. Please be careful." Maria said.

Mustang cut them off, "Shut up." And he started to dial on the phone while the other three continued to shift through Maria's bags. Maria directed her attention to the General, who had a very stern and hard face pressed against his skin. He glanced up at Maria once more before taking a quick breath. Maria heard someone on the other line ask hello.

"Fullmetal. This is Mustang." Said the man. He paused while the person on the other end started to say something, and he went on, "Heiderich, was it?" There was another pause and he listened intently, to which Mustang finally said, "I think you better come to Central Command, Edward."

* * *

><p>Alright alright alright. A couple of key points that I need to mention before I go on to a chapter two. First of all, I'm following the anime and manga both, but I seem to be picking out bits and pieces that fit together instead of just sticking with one. Also, this story will imply three things. One, that Alfons somehow reproduced before he died in 1923, Edward has his alchemy, and Winry and Edward did not get together. (And a few other things will pop up, I'm sure.) I'm pretty nervous because I'm a Harry Potter fan fiction writer, and the only anime story that I've ever written otherwise I didn't get a lot of good reviews on it. I've found that anime readers are a bit more critical that HP ones. But hey, if I ever want to be a writer, I need to appease the critics too, right? I need to learn and grow in my writing. And the fact that anime reviewers are more critical is fine; I know there are a lot more anime stories. Anyway, be honest but be kind as well. Thanks for reading!<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Edward Elric of Resembool in the country of Amestris had become accustomed to wearing the clothes he wore while he was in Munich. Tan slacks that were slightly baggy, a white shirt and a darker brown vest. The only difference in his attire was that he didn't need to wear elevator shoes any longer; he had had a growth spurt, finally, while in Munich, and was able to stand against Al without looking like a shrimp. His hair was not in a braid any longer either, for he felt it was a symbol of life in the past, and much rather have his long golden hair in a high pony tail with his bangs framing his face. Edward's facial features, over time and since his year being back from Europe, had grown harder, worn, and older; stern, like a military dog, which was interesting, considering he wasn't one any longer. His eyes sunk deeper into their sockets causing him to become colder and scarier, his cheeks protruded out slightly, and his skin was taunt and tan; Edward had found pleasure in not using his alchemy, which the Gate allowed him to have, but to use his hands. It was, to him, more noble.

He had since gotten his limbs back from the Gate and Al got his entire body. The only thing his lost was his father, who had sacrificed himself for Al instead of Edward's alchemy. A last minute and sometimes regretful choice that Edward had made, in the end, he felt that it made up for all the years he left the boys alone with their ill mother. Had he been there, she might have still been alive, or at least if she had died, he would have prevented his boys from making the same mistake that he had made times and times before, and thus, they would have not have gone through the pain of having their limbs and bodies torn apart from the supernatural glare of the Gate-Equivalent Exchange, after all.

It only took Edward a day to get from Rosembool to Central Command. When he was called by Mustang to report to the office, he was in the middle of repairing Winry's roof for the second time that season. He had been studying alchemy even more intensely since his adventures on the other side and with the military, and was doing well; but it was summer now and it was time to come home to do manual labor for his family. Al was in the East doing his own study and was due to be back from his university in three days time.

This was what was bothering Edward. Not the fact that he was being called out to Central Command for something for Mustang, but the fact that if its something long and requiring hard work and time, he would miss welcoming his brother home from his first year at university; and he didn't want that. The only, and Edward would repeat this over and over again, only reason why he had chosen to go to Central instead of staying home was because Mustang had used Alfons' last name. Mustang didn't elaborate, most likely because of someone being in the room while he called Edward; but Edward was sure it had something to do with the parallel world that was looming over his own. And if not, maybe Alfons wasn't Alphonse's counterpart in the other world, maybe he had another one here and Mustang had found him. But that was, and Edward knew, untrue. Edward had talked extensively about Alfons during their conversations after his return; his life, his death, and everything between. Maybe Mustang just wanted Edward to sign off on a report of the past year. Maybe to say something to another official. Edward only hoped it wouldn't take too long.

The train was normal, though he did note that not as many people were riding on it as he thought there would be. The weather was nice and warm and he enjoyed the breeze seeping through the windows and brushing his hair. He didn't mind taking a nap on the train either; he often did. And when he finally reached Central, he dismounted the train as thought he owned the damn thing; and he practically did. The whole city did owe him its survival. But he would never actually voice that.

Edward had become more subdued in his adventures around Europe and after gaining Al back in flesh and blood. More mature, especially for an nineteen year old, and often more calculating. He only used alchemy if he absolutely needed to, and no matter how much he liked sparing and practicing his science, he only did it with Al during the summer. Otherwise, he didn't go on missions or tasks for Mustang that required him to fight someone. His fight was over.

Walking up to the building and showing off his State Alchemist pocket watch, which he still kept in his vest, because when he retired from being a State Alchemist, under the regime of Mustang, he became an honoree and was allowed the same type of access into Central Command. So he showed the guard, who already knew who he was, and started walking down the long path to the main building where Mustang kept his office.

It was only about ten in the morning, so when he knocked on the office door and was greeted by Havoc and the others, he was surprised. Most of them avoid the office. Today must be a special day.

"Hey guys." Edward said as he walked back all of them and ended up standing in front of Mustang's desk, "This better not take long. I need to be back home for when Al-"

"Shouldn't be too long, Fullmetal."

"I'm not even metal anymore." Edward sneered.

Mustang got up from his seat and looked at Edward. Since Edward and Al's return earlier that year, Mustang got to see the two of them often; for dinners, special weekends, even holidays. The boys became to him like a family he never had. However, no matter how many times he saw Edward, he still made time to say, "You're getting taller."

"You're getting dumber."

"Follow me." Mustang said sternly, and he swept to his side and started walking out the door. Edward followed suit, and he noted that Havoc, Falman, and Hawkeye were with them.

"What's this all about?" Edward said, "Is it something about the other world? You said Alfon's name over the phone…"

"Something like that." Mustang said sharply, and he opened the door and stood aside so that Edward could walk through.

Edward walked into one of the large ballrooms that the Central Command often used for functions and meetings with higher command. As well, all the chairs and tables had been moved to the side so that there was a large space right in the middle of the room. There were two figures; one that Edward recognized immediately as Armstrong, who was shirtless, and currently standing on his tip toes and waving his arms to his side to keep balance.

The other figure Edward did not recognize. It was much smaller than Armstrong, and would be smaller than Edward as well. The figure was standing on one foot at the very tip with her other leg stretched out at a ninety degree angle. Her hands were before her and slightly bent at the elbow, and her hair was let loose; long brown and dead straight. And unlike Armstrong, who was wiggling and breathing heavily, she was completely still and completely quiet. It was only until Armstrong sighed heavily that she said, "You'll get it soon."

"Elric!" Armstrong yelled, and he gave up his position, which included having his feet at a straight line, and ran over to Edward to shake his hand.

Edward accepted the hand and greeted, "Hello. What were you just doing?"

"It's some type of dance." Armstrong said, "It's called…called…"

"Ballet." Hawkeye said sternly, "It's a dance from the other world."

"Other world…" Edward whispered, and he looked at the figure that had now arrived at Armstrong's side. Staring at her, he noticed that she was most certainly shorter than him and quite petit. And her eyes looked exactly like Alfon's. "Hello." Edward said quietly.

The girl didn't speak because Mustang jumped in, "Fullmetal, this is Maria Heiderich. She's not from around here."

"I gathered that."

Maria held out her hand, which was small and soft, and said, "How do you do?"

"Fine." Edward said, and he greeted her properly but looked at Mustang, "How did she get here?"

"We're not sure." Mustang said, "But we're interested in who she is."

Sitting down at a large meeting table in the middle of Mustangs office was unnerving for both Edward and Maria. For Edward, because it meant going through the same routine that he despised. He'd much prefer action to be taken, questions to be answered, on the spot, and not while sitting at a long mahogany table with his back completely rigid. For Maria, it made her feel like she was under interrogation more than a general discussion of her history. Realizing that she might have to prove something about herself, she had asked Havoc to give her back her computer.

"Now that we're all settled." Mustang said, and he flipped through a file that had been made of Maria, "Let's learn about our new friend. It's my understanding that you arrived on one of our trains through one of your trains."

"Yes."

"And you are from New York in the year 2010." Mustang mumbled.

"Yes."

"Alright then." Mustang said, setting down the papers and looking at Maria, "And where do you think you are now?"

"I'm not sure…" Maria said softly, while looking at the other people of the table. "I'm hoping..this is all a dream, really."

"It's not." Edward seethed.

Mustang had enough time to glare at the blond before returning his gaze to Maria, "It's 1918 right now, Maria."

Maria had heard simple sentences before. Things like, 'Your father left us.' and 'You'll never get into Julliard.' and finally, 'We can afford that.' But sometimes, and it was sadly so, the most simple sentences were the ones that hurt the most; this was one of those times. Because Maria blinked back at Mustang with her cheeks turning a bright pink and her lips opening slightly. "..What?"

"I'm sorry." Mustang said, "If you're telling the truth about where you came from, you've been sent into the past. And I wish, for your sake, that that was the only thing that you traveled through. But it's not. You've also traveled through a type of space." When he realized that Maria was not going to say anything at the moment, he continued, "You are not in your world. You're in our world. In the city of Central and in the country of Amestris."

"How..?"

"It's just a theory." Edward muttered. Since seeing her eyes, he hadn't been able to look at Maria directly in the face. At the moment, his arms were crossed over his chest and his eyes were glued to the top of the table. His lips, chapped because of the sun, were pressed together and his eyebrows were making a small bump in the middle of his forehead. He continued, "There are two worlds out there that we know of. This one, and your world, Maria." And finally Edward looked up at Maria. She was watching him intently. "The Alchemy we use here gets it's energy from your world."

"Then I just go back." Maria said, glancing at Mustang, "Just take me back through the portal or gate or whatever." And Edward winced.

"It's not only that." Mustang said calmly, "Edward has been to your world."

Maria glanced at Edward and noticed how hard his face had gotten, "You have?"

"But I don't think the same time as you." Edward said, "I was in Munich 1923."

"That's another thing." Mustang said, "She's from 87 years after your time, Edward."

"I know." Edward said. "Which means if we try to get her back, we might put her in the wrong place again and not be able to change it."

"And location." Maria added, "New York is 4,000 miles from Munich."

Edward glanced at her, "Which is why we can't just send you back."

"But." Mustang said slyly, smiling at Maria, "We'd like to know a bit about your last name."

"Why?" Maria said, "You won't have me on record…"

"Just tell us about your family tree." Mustang sighed, "Can you tell us if you have a Alfons Heiderich in your family?"

"He was my grandfather." Maria said gently, "German."

"Died in 1923?" Mustang said. He watched as Edward almost cringed at the mention of Alfons' death.

"He died in World War II. That's all I know." Maria said. "He died sometime early in the war while fighting, though. In the 30's."

"It's a different one." Edward growled. "It's probably a common name…"

"I have a picture." Maria said, and she opened her laptop and turned it on. "Sure wish you guys had the same outlet that I have back home so I could charge this.." She waited while it booted up and started to type upon the keyboard, "I had to do a family history assignment for one of my classes back home, and my mom went onto the Internet to find my family line." She knew that no one at the table knew what she was talking about, but she'd explain it later. She turned the computer to Mustang and Edward. Upon the screen was a picture of the Alfons that Edward knew. Staring back at him. Smiling, with a formal suit on and next to one of his rockets.

"That's him." Edward whispered. He stared at the picture for a long time and he felt tears start to well up into the corner of his eyes. Sure, this man, this young man, wasn't his actual brother. But for two years he was, and he gave his life for Edward. Looking at a picture that looked back at him, happy, carefree, and healthy, was almost torture for him.

But them something struck Edward that hadn't occurred to him since finding out that Maria could possibly be a distant relative of his once close friend. "Who was your grandmother?"

"A woman named Noah."

"What?" Edward yelled, and he jumped up from his seat and glared down at Maria, "He didn't like her at all! He was for the Nazi side!"

"My grandfather died for the sake of six million people!" Maria yelled, and thrashed her hair while she stood up as well, giving Edward quite the look. Edward could see where she got her brown hair. Noah had the same hair.

"…Six million?" Mustang said gently.

"That's how many people died." Maria said.

"Died? Died during what?" Edward pressed.

"Let's take a break." Mustang said, "For today."

Maria was to be placed in a separate room from the offices for her sleeping. All her possessions were with her, but it wasn't like she could use any of them. Sadly, she had to resort to picking up a book from Mustang's personal collection and looking at the history of the strange country. The room that had been allotted to her was small, dark, with one lamp in the side of the room where her bedside table was; next to her bed, with white sheets and one pillow. The walls were all a light brown and Maria found the entire place very boring. But she dealt with it. She was either going to wake up from her dream soon or go home. Back to her family, in her own world, and follow her own dreams.

There was a knock on the door and Maria glanced up from where she was sitting on her pillow. "Come in." And the door opened to reveal Hawkeye.

"Good evening, ma'am." Hawkeye said gently as she brought in a pile of towels, "I brought these for you. Are you well?"

"Bored. That's all."

Hawkeye nodded and sat down at the foot of her bed, looking over at the book that Maria had in her lap. "You won't learn a lot from that book. It was written before the civil war."

"There was a civil war, here?"

Hawkeye nodded and started to straighten the towels on Maria's desk. "Edward is a little on edge about what you said."

"About my grandmother?"

"Yes." Hawkeye said, "Because your grandfather and grandmother must have procreated while Edward was in the other world with them, and without him knowing." Hawkeye said, "I assume he feels betrayed by two of his closest friends in the other world."

"Oh." Maria said softly. "I didn't know."

"I assume he doesn't want you to know."

Maria got up and grabbed one of the towels so that she could take a shower before going to bed. It was her second night in the Central Command, but she got the hang of it. As nervous and paranoid as she might feel while being in a new building, she noticed that throughout the night, large footprints that belonged to guards often patrolled her room; she was safe. Alone, lonely, and bored, but safe. "Do you mind if we…Go out into the City tomorrow, Hawkeye?"

"Call me Riza." Said Hawkeye, "And I'll take you tomorrow morning to get some clothes."

Maria smiled, "Thank you."

"Sleep well, ma'am."

"Maria. Please call me Maria."

"Maria." Hawkeye confirmed, and she shut the door behind her. 

* * *

><p>Hello again! I got a couple good reviews so I'll keep going. When writing a story, I tend to lay the entire foundation before I get to the romantic part. Thanks for reading!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Shopping with Riza Hawkeye was structured, strict, and often short and rigid. She didn't stay in the store long enough for Maria to browse like Maria would while in New York. She stood near the door, watching Maria intently, and with her hands completely behind her back so that no shop owner dared to approach her.

Shopping with Maria involved having an entire university course on fashion strategies color coordination, and body sizes. All of which Riza had to endure. In the end, Riza was lectured far more than Maria was.

"And there was a woman called Coco Chanel that popularized the idea of just black and white." Maria carried on while walking through the markets, "She's one of the most famous fashion designers in our era. Or…world. Whichever." Maria lifted up a dress that was being shown in one of the little shops, "You should see New York during Fashion Week…"

"There is an entire genre to clothes?" Hawkeye asked, "Just clothes?"

Maria looked at Hawkeye, "You don't have something like that here?"

"Seems a bit trivial to me." Hawkeye mumbled.

"Fashion marks history." Maria said, "For example, Edward's fashion is early 30's. Very posh."

"And this is significant?"

"Having a vest like that shows wealth." Maria said, and she reached over to pull up a red scarf, "In my world, you are what you wear."

"Well Edward is far from wealthy, I would assume." Hawkeye said, as she fingered a necklace hanging off a post, "He supports everyone."

"Everyone? His family?"

"Him and his brother, yes."

Maria gave the money to the shop keeper and added the scarf to her collection of new clothes before looking at Hawkeye, "Will we have another meeting today? With General Mustang and Edward?"

"No." Hawkeye said, "Tomorrow morning and then Edward will go back to his home for Alphonse."

"Right." Maria said softly, looking down at the clothes before her before allowing herself to be escorted by Riza to another part of the city for some lunch.

However, meanwhile.

"It's impossible."

"Edward."

"I'm not kidding!" Edward spat, glaring at the General the best that he could; there were dark circles under his eyes. Behind him was a chalkboard covered in calculations and diagrams that Edward had been working on all night. There was the diagram of a parallel world, including all the dates that Edward could remember from this world and his own. The chalkboard, covered in quantum physics, alchemy, and historical dates, was actually currently being ignored. "How could Noah and Alfons ever get together? How could Alfons die during the 30's! I saw his dead body!"

"Edward, this isn't the time to worry about where she came from." Mustang groaned while placing his coffee cup to his mouth to take a swig, "We should be concerned about how she got here."

"I can't answer that." Edward said softly, lowing his arms to his side, "I don't know."

"You'd better figure it out, Fullmetal."

"Or what?"

"You can't go home." Mustang said, and he watched as Havoc, Hawkeye and Falman reported from their posts and sat down next to him, "Go over it again, Edward."

Edward glared and pointed to the chalkboard, now addressing the newcomers, "We are currently in the year 1918 in our world, while Maira is from 2010 in an alternate world." He sighed and made a line with the chalk from 1918 to 2010, while drawing a line in the middle of that one to indicate the separation of universes, but then wrote 'Alfons' to the top of the world of which 2010 was written, "Maria is from the same world that I went to back in 1915, which is confirmed by her…_relation_ to Alfons."

"Whom you knew personally." Mustang said between a gulp of coffee, "Make sure to write that in the report."

"I have to write a report about this?" Edward said sharply, "I don't want to go through all this again!"

"Continue. Ed."

Growling, Edward pointed to a map that he had drawn on the blackboard, to which there was a tag saying 'Central Tunnel', "This is where we think Maria crossed over. In the Central Tunnel just before reaching Central."

"Now." Mustang said, while standing up and walking up to the blackboard, "First of all, in order to cross over, there has to be a person on each side willing to open the Gate. Yes?"

"Yeah…"

"So someone from our world was trying to open it here, which would be the criminal on the train we were pursuing, men." Mustang said, turning around to look at Havoc and Falman, "The woman on the train was being chased because she was doing Human Transmutations in public areas in order to get to the other world." Mustang took another gulp and said quietly, "How she knew about the other world, I'll never know."

"Where is she now?" Edward said quickly.

"Gone." Mustang said, "Maria caught our attention. She'll be dead by now anyway. She's already lost internal organs."

Edward breathed hard and pressed his head to the coolness of the blackboard, thinking. "How did she…"

"Someone else." Mustang said, "Someone, somewhere else."

"Blood…" Edward whispered.

"Excuse me, Fullmetal?" Mustang said sharply, "You know, after all the years you've had to brief me on assignments, you've never really been articula-"

"Blood." Edward sneered out, while looking up. "Was Maria bleeding on the train?"

"…I'm not sure." Mustang said.

Edward slammed his hand on the board and started to pace. "This isn't making any sense. How can she be here?" He looked up at Mustang, "Alchemy isn't possible there!"

"As far as you know." Mustang said gravely, "But Maria's time is more advanced than the time you were there…"

"You don't mean…" Havoc said before Edward could, "They might be able to do alchemy there now?"

"That's not possible." Edward said.

"I bet you'd say the same thing if I told you a week ago a young woman was going to cross over from 92 years in the future." Mustang snapped, while sipping down the last of his coffee and starting to walk away, "Figure it out, Fullmetal. I'll find out about Maria's blood."

"No." Edward said, turning from the board and stalking past an annoyed Mustang, "I'll do it. I know where to find her." And before the General could convinced him otherwise, Edward had left the room and started down the hallway.

Maria was finally back from her shopping with Hawkeye and had contented herself with practicing ballet with Armstrong once again. When Edward entered the large room that he had met Maria in the day before, he saw Armstrong with his shirt still on, holding one of his strong arms out completely straight. Maria was holding onto the arm with one of her own hands, using it as balance, and stretching her foot up so that her legs made on long vertical line up to the ceiling. Edward heard Armstrong chuckle and confirm to Maria that, yes, it was completely straight.

"Excuse me." Edward said, and he watched as Maria slowly lowered her leg and looked at him and Armstrong turn from his position.

"Edward." Armstrong said, "How's the figuring going?"

"We've come to a standstill." Edward said sternly, "Can I talk to Maria alone, Major?"

"Certainly." Armstrong said gently, and respectfully the older and stronger man started to leave the room. While passing Edward, however, he stopped and laid his hand on the young man's shoulder, "Be considerate, Edward." And then he left them alone.

Edward approached Maria silently, and when he was next to her, held out his own arm for her to use as balance. Maria accepted it and took grip on his left arm, for Edward felt his right wasn't strong enough yet. Without speaking, Maria hopped up onto her toes once more and slowly lifted up her leg to her abdomen so that her back thigh curled.

"Maria." Edward addressed, and he heard a small 'hmm?' to indicate her acknowledgement. Edward continued, "Did you have any open wounds while you were on the train?"

"I always do, really." Maria said softly, leaning her head to the side and lifting her arm so that it curled over he heard, "My dance does make my feet bleed."

Edward didn't say anything, but instead looked down at her feet. He saw bandages all the way up to just above the ankle. "But..why not jut get new shoes?"

"Oh, it's the new shoes that do it." Maria said, "I had a performance the day before going on the train and had to use white shoes instead of my tan ones. They were new and not broken in. So they cut in."

"Isn't that painful?" Edward breathed.

Maria started to switch positions so that she was gripping Edward's arm tightly and holding her leg out so that it was making a ninety degree angle with the floor, "Dance is painful. Ballet is one of the most demanding athletics there is."

"Not compared to martial arts." Edward grunted.

Maria sighed and turned around so that she was placing her hands on Edward's upper arms, intending to use his shoulders and balance, "Everyone says that."

She looked offended and tired of his answer, and Edward realized he might have insulted her. "I'm sor- What are you doing?"

Maria had started to furrow her brow and pat down his upper arms, squeezing them and pinching the muscles. She reached around from under his arms and felt his shoulder blades before going over his pectorals. Edward watched as she put both her feet down on their balls and start to look at his forearms and hands. "What's wrong?" Edward said, "I know I'm not as strong as Armstrong but-"

"You're underdeveloped." Maria said softly.

Edward stopped talking and glared at her, "Excuse me?"

"Your muscles in your right arm are much smaller and thinner than the ones on your left. Like you haven't used them for years…"

"So?" Edward said, ripping his upper body away from her, "I'm left handed, that's all."

"But yours are…too uneven…"

Edward turned around and started to walk away, out the door. "Thanks for the information about your feet." He spat on his way out, "We'll see if we can get you home soon." And he left the dancing hall while slamming the door behind him.

Edward didn't seem to realize that as a dancer, Maria had a strong knowledge of muscles and the body. He should have known. He had to know all that stuff while he was learning martial arts. He should have not let her roam her hands around and realize that his right side was weaker. He shouldn't even have offered to be her balance.

"Edward!" Came a voice from behind him. He turned around and saw Maria, wearing a small jacket for the cold air of the hallway, running up to him. Edward glared. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mustang approach the frame of his door, another coffee cup in his hand. Maria approached him and said, "You were using a prosthetic for a period of time." She breathed, for she had to run to catch up to him. Her feet were now bare, opting to catch him that way other than slipping around in her shoes. "That's why your right arm is weaker…"

"And what do you care?" Edward snarled, "So what if it is?"

"My grandmother." Maria said quickly, "She has your old ones."

Edward blinked back at her, his face turning a bright red, "…what?"

"She was crazy." Maria went on, "They put her in a home because she kept talking about how bad she wanted to go to another world. She kept talking about a boy who came from another world with one fake leg and one fake arm. And when he left, she took his prosthetic limbs to save for later. In case…" She breathed again, because her lungs were heavy, "In case he ever needed them again."

"…She did?" Edward whispered, "And you've seen them?"

"Yup." Maria said quietly, "When we cleaned out her house after we moved her. She…" And Maria glanced at Mustang before looking back at Edward, "She refused to get rid of them."

"What do you mean going to a home?" Mustang said gently, "She already had a home…"

"My mom put her in an old person's home." Maria said, "To keep her there until..."

Edward almost slapped a human being, "What?" He yelled, "To just sit around and wait to die!"

"It wasn't my choice!" Maria said quickly, "I was four when they moved her in!"

"And is she…" Edward said quickly, "Is she…"

"She's 94 at the moment."

"Still alive." Edward whispered. "After all this time…"

"And wanting to be here." Maria said, "She told me all about you. About what you talked about. She said at first she thought you were selfish and crazy. But when you told her about this place, it helped her forget about…what was happening. And about alchemy and science and rockets and my grandfather. I always thought she read it out of a book…" She glanced up at Mustang, "It was like a fairy tale…Her own happy ending…"

Edward glanced up at Maria after he glared at the narrowed eyes of Mustang, "And did she tell you how I lost these limbs?"

"No." She said quickly. "She never knew…"

Edward nodded and grabbed her arm. "Come with me." He glanced at Mustang, "We'll be on the roof. Don't send anyone up." And he started to drag the dancer away.

"Find it out, Fullmetal!" Mustang yelled from the end of the hallway, "Figure this out!"

But Edward ignored him and continued to run up the stairs of the large building. Maria gently complied, which was odd, because Edward was used to girls like Winry giving him a hard time about where he was going. But silence was best at the moment.

"Come on." Edward said, and he moved to the side of a door and opened it, "Go in."

"You're not going to beat me up for knowing about your limbs, are you?" Maria said frankly, refusing to move from her spot, "That happens a lot in New York…"

"Are you stupid?" Edward bit out, "I just want to be away from Mustang. I need answers and you have them." So he pushed Maria, gently, inside the door and led her up a flight of stairs, "Hurry up. To the top, yup."

Maria found herself on the rooftop of the Central Command building, overlooking the entire city in a 360 view. "Why..?-"

"There's no officials up here that can hear anything." Edward said, and he moved a bag from his back that he must have grabbed while they were running. "Sit down, please." He instructed, and he sat down beside her on top of the tallest building in Central. He pulled out a notebook with no lines and a pen, "Explain your grandmother to me." He said, "Everything."

Maria nodded and swung her legs over the side of the building so that would dangle, "Her name was Noah." She said gently. "She took my grandfather's last name. She didn't have one before then."

"No she didn't." Edward confirmed, writing. "What happened after Alphonse and I left?"

"World War II happened." Maria said.

"And…" Edward said, writing the words slowly, "What happened with that? What's a World War II? I was there near the end of the Great War." Edward confirmed, "Almost got bombed on in London. Was it just like that?"

"It was worse than that." Maria said. "They had more planes and weapons."

"And Noah?" Edward went on, "What happened to her?"

"She fled the country and went to America." Maria said.

Edward nodded and scribbled, "Have you ever seen a recent picture of your grandfather? In a war uniform, by chance?"

Maria glanced up at the sky, "Come to think of it…I haven't. Grandmama said all of their records burned up in a house fire."

Edward decided not to correct her. "I want to know more about your feet." He said, and he grabbed one of her feet and looked at it. It was small and muscular, just like a ballet dancer's foot seems to be. There were old and new cuts and scars all along them, with her toes subconsciously curling inwards. Edward pointed at one of the cuts near her ankle, "That's one?"

"Yes."

He gently laid her foot down and looked at her, "Your blood was used to send you here, it seems. And someone from here was doing a human transmutation at the same time. This was a billion to one chance and you got it." He reached into his bag again and pulled out a ruler to make the same calculations that he did on the board just that day, only with the extra variable of Noah and Maria's foot. Maria beside him had become silent and pulled her legs up so that she could rest her chin on her knees.

After a few moments of hearing nothing but the scratching of Edward's pen on the notebook, Maria said, "You know, she's the reason I dance…"

"Hmm?" Edward grumbled from where he was writing, his brows thick with concentration.

"She was a dancer." Maria breathed. "Did you ever see her dance?"

Edward glanced up from his paper, his eyes hard, "Yes. She was very good." And he smiled sadly as she smiled and looked out into the city. Edward carried on, "You dance because she did?"

"When I was little." Maria said, amused at her memory, "She pulled me aside and she said.." Maria put on an old lady's voice, " 'I found the love of my life dancin'!' If you dance, you'll find your true love!'" And Maria laughed to herself, "She insisted my mother put me in some type of dancing class…"

"So you were put in ballet." Edward confirmed.

Maria nodded, her eyes bright and her cheeks pink, "And she came to every single one of my performances. Even the night before coming here."

Edward started calculating for the third time during the conversation. To someone observing the two of them, it would look like Edward was being nonchalant and normal. However, he actually wanted to place his entire mind into his calculations instead of Maria. Alfon's eyes…Noah's hair…Noah still alive. The sooner Maria was gone, the sooner Edward could carry on in his own world without interruptions. Silently, he watched as Maria swung her feet over the balcony, and quietly he said, "You don't believe it, do you?"

"Hmm?" She asked. "Believe what?"

"That you'll meet your true love through dance." Edward continued, but he decided it would be best to look out towards the city instead of the young woman. It was always hard to enforce the logical upon the passionate. Normally they became rash and angered at him. Normally, like Rose, they refused to believe them until something important to them was completely ruined.

But not Maria. She only smiled and said, "I better go to bed. Is this interview over?"

Edward looked up at Maria, "Before you go. Tell me. What is something you worry about back home?"

Maria seemed confused, but she said, "My dance routine."

"Alright then." Edward said, "Goodnight." And he listened as the dancer got up from where she was sitting and left the roof, closing the door softly behind her.

Alfons. Noah. Rose. Mustang. Now Maria. So many old names, and so many new developments that Edward didn't want to think about. The calculations he was figuring were the last calculations, albeit the ones he's made on his brother, that he'd ever want to make. Two of his closest friends had a child together. Noah lied to not only Edward and Alphonse, but her entire family. Why? Couldn't she just say that, sadly, she had a child of a man who had died? Couldn't she just say that he died in 1923? But Edward knew Noah. Her desperation was enough to make her do anything.

But what? Edward would have to do a little more work before he could find out. For the time being, he just needed to get Maria back home and be back to his own home before Alphonse. Maria was far too young to understand the complications of his world and of Noah's past. He only hoped he wouldn't be the one to make her worry about things other than dance.

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><p>Carrying on. Reviews are much loved.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

**The song "I Like It" by Enrique Iglesias ft. Pitbull will be mentioned in this chapter. If you haven't heard it, you might want to Youtube it. I only put snippets of the lyrics in a chapter, not the full song. I _hate_ that. Enjoy!**

Edward Elric was never a morning person. Despite his long years of getting up at the crack of dawn with his then metal brother and walking long distances in search for a Philosopher's Stone, never, in his life, did he enjoy waking up before he wanted to. However, the sooner he was awake, the sooner the last meeting with Maria and Mustang would be, and the sooner he would be on his way to leaving Central and heading back home, just before dinner; just before Alphonse.

So he dragged himself off of the generic and very uncomfortable bed that the Military provided their quests, and he sat up. Since having his limbs back, his muscles had slowly begun to gain the strength they had so long gone without. However with that strength came feeling, and it wasn't enjoyable to feel them going to sleep and waking up, for feeling pressure on them, or overall smacking them against the corner of the bedside table, which is what Edward did on his way to the bathroom.

Walking into the kitchen, Edward assumed he was alone, but he wasn't. Hawkeye and Maria were already sitting at the table discussing the shopping trip they had the day before. Hawkeye was going on about a man who had given Maria quite the look because of her clothes, and Edward watched as Maria shrugged her shoulders and glanced up at him in greeting. Maria was curled up in the chair while Hawkeye was sitting perfectly straight as she normally was. Maria was wearing something that looked like baggy gray pants with the word PINK up the pant leg, and an overly large teeshirt that had been ripped so that the collar went off her shoulder. And while Hawkeye wore her hair perfectly slick and tied in the back, Maria's hair was wavy and fluffy, with one side a little flatter than the other. Edward scrunched his nose, "You look like a homeless person."

Maria nodded, "At the moment, I am, aren't I?"

Mustang and Havoc were soon in the kitchen as well, and Edward noted the time. They, too, knew that today was going to be a day that would require a lot of work.

"Fullmetal." Mustang greeted as he poured himself and Havoc a cup of coffee, "Coffee?"

"Sure." Edward said.

Mustang poured him his mug and took another mug down for Hawkeye, who accepted it, and then said, "Maria, coffee?"

"No thank you." Maria said politely, "It stunts your growth." And Edward sighed with the mug to his lips, but slowly placed it back on the table and pushed it away. Maria reached across the table and picked up an apple, "Now an apple is suggested to prevent colon, prostate and lung cancer, rich in antioxidants, helps the body grow faster, and is 25% more effective in keeping you awake and aware than a cup of coffee; a glass of apple juice concrete helps cognitive development." And she bit into the apple.

Mustang watched as Edward reached across the table as well and stared at the apple, but he was much more concerned about what Maria had said, "Cancer?"

Maria looked up at him, "You don't know what cancer is?" And Mustang shook his head. Maria glanced at the others and they all shook their heads. "It's a disease." She said, hoping it would spark something in the minds of her peers, but they all watched her to explain, "It's a rapid growth of cells. And you slowly die if you're not treated, or if the treatment fails."

"And..Is it a common illness?" Havoc asked. "Do a lot of people get it? Do you have it?"

"No, I don't have it." Maria said, "It's not contagious either. It's a mutation of cells, not a cold."

"Have you cured it, then?" Mustang asked.

"No, but we're getting closer." Maria said, "Modern science has done amazing things."

"Has your 'modern science' gotten you to the moon yet?" Edward snorted, "Alfons wanted to go to the moon when he was alive."

"We went in 1969. We're orbiting other planets now." Maria said shortly. And Edward fell silent for the duration of the meal.

"What will you do today, Maria?" Hawkeye asked, in sincere hopes of easing the tension between Edward and Maria.

"I think I'll cook something in here." Maria mused, "If you'd take me to the market."

"Certainly."

Everyone had gone off to do their own things after breakfast, and Mustang told Maria and Edward to report to his office at promptly midday. Edward, unhappy about Maria's snip and the fact that they couldn't do the meeting immediately, trudged off to the Central Library to do some more research on the subject of Maria's time. Had Edward been able to go home in the morning, he would have been able to beat Alphonse home by two hours. Now Mustang was just pushing it.

Edward waltzed into the Library, flashing his pocket watch at the guard, before going to the very corner of the building and finding a table next to a window. This was his spot. Of all the times he had gone to the library, he always picked this spot to do his work. When someone was sitting there before them, he would find some way to distract them and get them to leave. But because of it being so early in the morning, the fickle librarian was the only one that Edward could see, and so he took his seat at his table, took out the same notebook that he had been working in for the past couple of days, and thought.

Maria's time.  
>His time.<br>Alfons' time.  
>Which time?<br>What happened?  
>Future time?<br>Events?  
>Events.<p>

All events…  
>Every event?<br>Alchemy.

Branch of alchemy…

Dissolution of alchemy.

Physics versus biology.

Technology?

Correlating events during both histories?

"How the hell…" Edward whispered to himself often during that morning. Over and over again, he redid every single possibly he could think of, and still, he couldn't find a possible reason as to why Maria was from 2010 and he was from 1918; the worlds living side by side.

Reader, I urge you to think back to when you had to do that one very difficult mathematics assignment while in elementary school. You know now that the answer was something really simple, like 7x1234=8638, but that was before you were allowed to use the school's calculators like you can today, and so the pencil and paper sitting before you was your only option of figuring out your problem and going off to recess. Redoing the same thing over and over again, and forgetting to add the numbers at the top instead of multiplying them again. Something you've been told over and over again by the teacher, but each time forgetting and not realizing it. This is how Edward felt while figuring out the times between his and the strange ballerina at Central. However, at the moment of which he did find out, he did the same thing you must have done; he swore at the paper and at himself.

It was almost eleven but Edward figured that Mustang would want to hear about this, so after packing up all his equipment and scurrying past the librarian, he made a very determined beeline to the Central Command building, pushed past anyone who attempted to speak to him, and almost banged the door down onto the floor upon entering Mustang's office.

Mustang looked up with a tired expression on his face. "Ed."

But Edward didn't say anything. He only grunted and walked over to the chalk board that still held his equations from the day before, and started to erase everything from it. Havoc and Falman, normally present in the General's office when they weren't patrolling, sat down around the chalkboard and prepared to listen.

"There's a Philosopher's stone in Maria's world." Edward muttered out between his scratching on the chalkboard. He ignored the surprised grunts from behind him and carried on, "I don't know how it got there, but I can explain the time difference."

He started to draw the same diagram that he had the day before. A horizontal line going from one side of the board to the other, with a vertical one going down the middle of it. He added the dates of him three years ago, to the present time in Central. Then he added Alfon's time and the time of Maria. "Their time is faster than ours because someone is using alchemy."

"So?" Mustang said.

"The Stone relies on the souls of sacrificed people." Edward went on, "The Stone has been in Maria's world during their 1300's. I remember hearing about it. It was called the Black Death. I was reminded of it when Maria talked of cancer. It's something that couldn't be cured." Edward made a dash on the timeline and added in the Plauge.

"…So?" Mustang mumbled again.

"So." Edward bit out, "2010 minus 1300 is approximately 710 years ago for Maria, and 600 years for us."

"Ed." Mustang mumbled, "You're not making sense and you're wasting my time."

"Hear me out!" Edward grumbled, and he started to draw once again. "The Black Death took about 400 million lives, and The Great War took about 7 million." Edward turned around and expected his audience to nod and understand, but he only growled upon hearing Mustang sigh dramatically. Edward then said, "Mustang, what year did I leave from here and go to London?"

"About 1915." Mustang said, "And you came back last year."

"Right. And what year was I in London?"

"1921."

"That's a six year difference." Edward said, with excitement shrilling out of his voice as he ran to the blackboard and continued to write, "So 7 million is to six years and 400 millions is to 'x' years. And x equals 342.86 years. So if you subtract 343 years from 2010, you'll get…"

"1667." Mustang said.

"You see?" Edward said, "That doesn't make sense!"

"Uhh.." Havoc mumbled. "No, Ed, that doesn't."

"But!" Edward yelled, drawing on the board again, "If you take our time minus 343, you'll get 1572." And Edward slowly drew a dash onto the timeline and finished with, "And we know who was around during 1572." And he wrote his father's name.

Mustang stood up from where he was sitting and walked over to the board, crouching before it like he was observing a piece of fine art, with his hand on his chin. "You're suggesting your father made a Philosopher's Stone in Maria's time?"

"It would explain the difference." Edward countered, "The more energy that is taken from a world, the faster the time goes in order to create more energy. Everything goes faster when it wants more kinetic energy. Time's doing the same exact thing." He glanced at the screen, "So during the Black Death of Maria's world, my father must have pushed time in their world forward by hundreds of years. It slowed down, we sped up, and finally something must have happened right after I left in order to push time once again."

"Unbelievable!" Falman said, and he too got up from where he was sitting and looked at the board, "Your father changed the entire course of time."

"He tends to do that, yes." Mustang grunted, "The only problem is that we seem to always find out too late."

"So." Edward said, "I have the answer. I can go home now."

"Well, Ed," Mustang said, straightening his back and looked down at the blonde, "Not only do I not believe this theory. But you also have to explain to me how Maria got here." He pointed at the board, "This is all very impressive. You've improved your math skills. But I don't care where she's from. I only care about how she got here. She could be from the 1600's her time for all I care."

"But!" Edward yelled, "That means alchemy is possible in her world! Don't you care about that?"

"Ed, it's also possible that your father made it here and took it over there, and then used that stone to make a second." And he turned on his heel and started to walk out of his own office, "Midday is upon us, Edward. I suggest you go welcome your brother downstairs. I redirected his train."

Edward practically stomped the hell out of the building in his journey to the lower level of Central Command to meet Alphonse in the lobby. His brother, who had gained muscle and was taller than when Edward last saw him, and not only that, but with his hair cut short once again, smiled upon seeing his older brother and said, "Brother!" Then grasping Edward in a hug and holding him out at arm's length, "I got a letter from Mustang saying that I needed to come here. He said you'd be here! How have you been?"

"Rotten." Edward seethed, "I was supposed to meet you back home with Winry and her grandmother for dinner."

"That's alright, Brother." Alphonse assured gently, "We'll see them soon. Why do you have to be here, anyway? He said something about a young girl?"

"I'll show you." Edward said, and he allowed one of the guards to take Alphonse's bags before leading his brother up the stairs and into the quarters that he and Maria had been living in. "She should be cooking. Said she would be." Edward said.

"Is she nice?" Alphonse asked, "Where is she from? What's her name?"

"Her name's Maria and she's pretty boring."

He walked to the kitchen but heard something like music, or at least a very rough and loud type of music, coming from the other side of the door. Looking over his shoulder at the confused face of his brother, Edward pushed it only a bit and looked inside.

The sight before him was odd. He heard something in the lyrics of the song like yelling and fast talking, and someone saying, "Girl please excuse me If I'm coming too strong..." But he wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics of the song, for the young girl who had been so boring and tired that morning, was now dancing around the kitchen floor, sliding on her socks like one would on the ocean, and flipping her hair around. She also, because of her dancing background and of course being from 2010, was moving her hips and popping them more like a salsa dancer than a ballerina. She ran her fingers through her hair, smiled and sung along to the chorus, (particularly yelling out "Baby I like it!") and twirling on her toes. Alphonse laughed and said, "I don't know what you mean, Brother! She seems very funny to me!"

And poor Maria stopped abruptly while facing them, her hair floofed over her face and her chest heaving up and down; her face completely red.

The moment was interrupted, however, by Mustang's strong voice. "Alright!" He yelled, looking over at the teenagers, "Let's have our little meeting, shall we."

Edward, still staring at the girl before him, his mouth open and his eyes focusing on something on her slim hip. Swiftly, he walked over to her and pulled her shirt up so that her stomach was exposed. "Hey!" Maria yelled, "Don't you people ask girls first?"

"I don't want _that _from you." Edward spat, and he looked closely at the imprint of her skin, "What's this?"

Mustang and Alphonse approached Maria's hip as well. The imprint was something that looked burned into the skin, and it was placed on her small hip bone. It was very small, only about the size of a golf ball, but the lines that made it up were distinct. "I've had it since I was younger." Maria said softly, her breathing still heavy from her dancing, "I got it while cooking with my grandma. I don't remember getting it really, but she said I had pulled something off the stove."

"What do you think it is, Edward?" Mustang asked.

"It's Transmutation Circle."

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><p>I bet the math is a little off, but I'm not too worried. If you think it's wrong or illogical, that's alright. It's only a fanfiction. Thanks for reading! :)<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

It only took a few moments after Edward's comment before Maria was shuffled into Mustang's office and presented to the rest of the military; her shirt pulled up to reveal the Transmutation Circle on her hip. She looked unhappy, annoyed, and very uncomfortable with Edward kneeling before her and staring at her skin, but deep down she knew that if Edward could somehow find a way to make the Circle work, she'd be able to go home sooner. So Maria sighed deeply a million times during the examination, but did as she was told.

Edward glared at the Circle and reached up to drag his thumb across it, causing Maria to whine above him. Ignoring her, he said, "That's a burn, alright."

"Your grandmother gave that to you?" Alphonse asked, "Why?"

"She used to work on a farm." Maria said, wiggling her hip away from Edward, only to have him grab the entire bone and yank it forward so he could observe it. She continued, distracted, "She used a long stick to brand her cows. The one that's on my hip fell off the stove and hit me."

"Seems pretty dead on for a brand." Edward said sternly, looking up to Maria. "Almost as if it was aimed."

"My grandmother would never do that."

"Your grandmother." Edward started, finally standing up from where he was kneeling so he could look down at the very petite and flustered girl before him, "Was desperate."

"So?"

"So. She branded you in hopes you'd be sent back here and see Alphonse and me." He glanced at Alphonse, who seemed to be calculating the whole thing in his own mind, he'd explain it later. "She saw me do Transmutation Circles all the time when Alphonse and I were in Germany. And she was able to read my mind. She must have memorized it."

"Read minds?" Maria said dryly, "That's not real. No one can read minds."

"Really?" Edward said, "You believe that? How come you Earthlings never believe things?"

"Because we're rational." Maria bit out, taking a step away from Edward and popping her hip to the side in defiance, "Instead of playing with magic, we have a society to build up."

"For the sake of destroying everyone else's'."

"Are we done, then?" Maria suddenly said, looking to Mustang. Her face was completely pink and seemed to want to slap Edward across the face rather than speak about her grandmother. "Can I go away, now? Just lock Edward in a room and let him do his little calculations again. He doesn't need my hip anymore."

"The hell I don't." Edward interrupted Mustang's answer, "I need to make sure the Circle on your hip works."

"Would it, Brother?"

"I'm not sure." Edward said, "Just because Noah put a Circle on her granddaughter doesn't mean it's going to work."

"Scar's Transmutation Circle worked." Mustang pointed out.

"Scar's was an Array." Edward corrected, "Not a circle. And his arm only deconstructed, it never reconstructed. The Circle on Maria must reconstruct her as well."

"Yeah. I'm leaving." Maria announced, and she started to walk out of the office, much to the annoyance of Edward and the surprise of Mustang and the rest of the military.

"Come back here!" Edward yelled, "I need your hip!"

"Suck it." Maria said flatly, and she opened the door of the office and waltzed out.

"'Suck it?'" Mustang said, "Suck what?"

"I assume it's a term of dismissal, General." Falman suggested.

"Ed." Mustang continued, "Why do you always have to piss someone off? Can't you just be nice?"

"I'm not going to sugar coat anything for her anymore." Edward said, taking out his book and drawing the Transmutation Circle that was on Maria, "I've already stopped myself from telling her that Alfons died before he could see his own child. I've done enough babysitting."

"Well then thank you for slowing everything up!" Mustang said dramatically, picking up his mug of coffee and walking to his door, "You're not leaving this damn city until I have every answer I want."

"What! Al and I have to get home! Winry will kill us—"

"Trust me, Edward." Mustang said dangerously, "I'm going to hurt you a lot more than Winry will." And he left.

"Let me try." Alphonse suddenly said, gaining an annoyed look from his older brother.

"It's true." Hawkeye mentioned, "Al is a lot more...easier to speak to than you are."

"I'm the one that has to answer Mustang, Al, not you." Edward sighed, "This is my responsibility."

"You always say that, Brother. But I always help." Al said.

Edward was always surprised by his expression during this point of the conversation. For a huge chunk of his life, Edward could only be persuaded by Al's words and his voice, and never by his face, because Al didn't have a face. But now that his brother was standing in front of him in flesh and in his own blood, with his face twisted into a face of begging and a face that showed he wanted to prove himself, it made it a lot more difficult for Edward to say no. So he didn't, and he said, "Alright." And he tore out a piece of paper and started to write on it, "I need you to find out if Maria would let us try a Transmutation with her brand. Just convince her."

Alphonse smiled, and Edward realized he missed that too. "Easy. I'll be down soon." And he practically dashed upstairs to Maria's room. (Having been yelled at by Hawkeye of its location.)

Alphonse gently knocked on the door. No one answered. "Maria?" Alphonse said gently, "It's me, Alphonse." And slowly, the door opened only by a couple of inches to reveal Maria, peeking out from behind it. Alphonse smiled as best that he could muster and he said, "Hello. We haven't been properly introduced—"

"You're Alphonse. Edward's brother. My grandmother mentioned you."

"Um..Yes. That would be me." Alphonse assured, "May I come in?"

"Are you going to interrogate me like that douche?" Maria said sternly, opening the door just enough so that her body could be seen only.

"Well..." Al said slowly, "I'm not sure what that means. But if you're referring to Ed, he's just a little stressed out from Mustang. He doesn't like doing this Military stuff."

"Then why doesn't he quit?"

"He did." Al assured, "A long time ago. But he was asked specifically to come here because of you."

"Me?" And Maria opened the door completely in concentration of Al.

"Well, yeah." Alphonse said, "Passing from our world and into yours, and the other way around, is really difficult and dangerous. The last time someone from your world came into ours, they tried to destroy us. General Mustang and Brother aren't doing this to make you hate them. They're trying to protect us. And you."

"Why me?"

Alphonse boldly walked into Maria's room and sat down on her bed, causing Maria to sit down as well and listen. Alphonse, after seeing he had her attention, said, "No matter what world someone is from, there will always be someone out there that wants to harm someone else. The worse thing that could possibly happen is if our two worlds somehow found out about each other."

"What's wrong with that?" Maria asked, "Then you people would have our technology."

"We wouldn't understand you. Not all of us, that is. You'd be thought of as evil and harmful. And we'd be thought of as primitive and stupid to you guys." Alphonse watched as she shook her head, but said this before she could comment, "Like your dance in the kitchen. To you, that might be completely normal in your world. But to us, it looked...odd."

"Odd?"

"You looked funny. We weren't sure what you were doing."

Maria seemed to blush and looked away at something on her desk, seeming to be nonchalant, but Alphonse knew better. After taking a break from explaining, Alphonse looked around the room as well. Her clothes were hung and sprawled everywhere, and her laptop, the contraption in which her music was coming out of in the kitchen, was on her desk. The bed was unmade and the windows were all open, allowing the air of the city to breeze through the room. It looked like the typical teenage bedroom to someone from Earth, but for Al and possibly Ed, it looked untidy. He smiled politely at Maria and got up from where he was sitting, "Brother, Ed, wanted me to ask you to let him try out your Transmutation Circle."

"Well. At least you're subtle." Maria said, "Only if he doesn't say anything."

Alphonse smiled, "Promise."

Edward was waiting in Mustang's office when Alphonse appeared. "Well?"

"You're not allowed to say anything, Brother." Alphonse said quickly, as Maria appeared behind him with a very determined look.

Watching Alphonse nod his head fervently, Edward sighed and walked over to Maria, holding out his hand, indicating for her to take it and follow him. She did so, but glanced back at Alphonse silently before allowing Ed to lead her to a table that had been set up in the middle of the office. It was a hospital bed with a desk right next to it and a light above, and Edward motioned Maria to lie down on the bed. Before she did anything, however, Maria stopped and said, "Will it hurt?"

Edward sternly shook his head while his nose was deep into his journal.

Slowly, Maria lay down on top of the bed and placed her hands under her head. Edward pulled her shirt up and waited as she squirmed under his touch before reaching over Maria's body to pull the light closer. Silently he observed the circle, then wrote something in the book, and then went back to looking at the Circle. He did this, back and forth, for a good ten minutes. All the time, Maria laid with her eyes closed and wiggling her toes as though she was being examined for a type of skin disease then to find out the answer to all of alchemy's mysteries. Mustang, during the process, became bored and left the room. Alphonse mentioned a weak excuse about having to get something out of his bag, and one by one, each character of the Military left; seeming to think that the situation was under control.

Slowly, Edward reached to the desk beside him and pulled open a drawer. He took out a marble and placed it on Maria's skin. She giggled, and it fell off. Sighing, Edward picked up the marble and placed on her skin once again, and she curled her legs up, laughed, and twisted her body so that the marble fell on the floor once again. Edward stopped and glared at her. "What?" Maria said, once she composed herself, "I'm ticklish."

Twisting his mouth into a scowl and using all his willpower not to yell at her, he placed his hand on her stomach so she couldn't move and placed the marble on her skin again. Maria wiggled, but was held down by Edward's strong hold, and Edward waited until her skin adjusted to the feel of the marble before moving his hand. Standing up, he looked at the marble, and clapped his hands, before placing them in a triangular shape with his index fingers and thumbs, and surrounding the small Circle with this triangle. The familiar blue glow came from within the Circle, and the marble changed from its heavy glass form into a small glass cube. The Circle worked.

"Wow." Maria breathed.

"Yeah." Edward said, "It works." He took the cube off and placed it on the table before looking at Maria, "I need to know everything about what you saw in the time of your Transmutation, Maria."

"Whatever happened to not talking?"

Edward opened his mouth but didn't say anything. Growling, he sat down in the chair and glared at her, willing her to continue.

"Everything I saw?" Maria said, while she moved her body so that she was laying on her side, supporting her head with her hand, "I was in the train carriage from New York, saw a bright light, and then ended up in the dirty one from Central." Edward perked up and moved his hands around; trying to indicate that something of what Maria said held significance. Maria stared at him.

"The light." Edward bit out.

"It was white, and I heard a voice, but I didn't understand everything it was saying." Maria said softly, "It said something about passing through and a toll."

Edward nodded, "When passing through the Gate to Earth, it didn't ask me about my toll via Equivalent Exchange. Because, biologically, I wasn't gaining or losing anything. Same for you, I suppose."

Maria slacked her neck so that her head fell upon her arm, and she said softly, "I'll be missing Christmas. That's losing something."

"That's not physical."

"So Alchemy is only physical? Is that why you're so bad at talking to girls?"

Edward's face contorted into a shocked scowl, and he stuttered out, "I—I—I'll have you know plenty of girls have liked me."

"I bet." Maria mused quietly, "That you've never lost anyone."

"Excuse me?"

"You don't seem to care that I'm not from around here." Maria accused, "You don't care that I'm missing Christmas, or that I need to be with my family, or that I'm missing all my dance lessons, and my schooling, and falling behind on my application to Julliard. You don't care about all that at all. You only care about the 'biological' and 'physical' sense of everything. All you do is calculate and get angry."

"How dare-"

"And I bet you've never had a girlfriend, come to think of it." Maria said, "Though I'm sure Alphonse has." She sat up so that her legs were crossed and she could look down at Edward, "Grandma always talked about how distant you were to everyone. I thought it was for the same reason I'm distant; because I miss my home. But I guess it's not. You just don't care about people. We're all experiments and calculations and inconveniences to you."

"I'll have you—""

"Oh, I'm sure you'd have me know a lot of things." Maria sassed out, "I'm sure you'd tell me something and put me right in my place, wouldn't you? But I'm not a Military dog, Edward. I'm a teenage girl and I have a life somewhere else. And since you obviously don't care about how I'm feeling and what I'm experiencing, then why should I care about what you've felt and what you've experienced? It's all about _Equivalent Exchange_ after all. I'll give you what you've given me, and so far, you'd only treated me like a lab rat."

"Wait a second, Maria!" Edward yelled, standing up from his chair and leaning in so that Maria was trapped between the bed and his body, "Is that how you cope with people? You insult them!"

"That's how you deal with people!"

"I've seen things that would make you want to kill yourself." Edward seethed out, "Make you want to give up everything to fix it. I've lost and gained things through alchemy that you'll never understand. I know more about life—"

"You know more about physical life."

"I know more than you'll ever know!" Edward yelled into her face, and he was sure he heard Mustang and a couple of the other dogs run in, for they had surely been waiting outside the door for when the two finished, but he paid them no mind. "You'd never understand my life! You're just a spoiled rotten brat!"

"And you're a steel hearted jerk!"

"Steel." Edward said, "Yeah, I've been steel before."

"Move." Maria said, and she attempted to push past him, but he was too strong. "I said—"

"You'll listen." Edward finished. With his chest, he bumped her back so that she was against the bed. He heard a "Ed!" from behind him, but he only focused on the girl before him. "I lost my mother, you know. And I, and I alone, put myself and my brother and people I cared about through hell because of alchemy; because I tried to bring her back from the dead. And I lost everything, and Al lost all of him. And it hurt. Emotionally and physically, that day has been imprinted into my mind. I'm steel now because I've become accustomed to it. I've seen death and I've been to the Gate and I've paid the toll. I had to literally convince Truth to keep Al here, and I've sacrificed all of me for what I worked for. And that's all before I was 12." Edward's face was flushed and his eyes were sharp, piercing into Maria's own eyes with a type of vengeance that scared her, "And what were you doing when you were 12, Maria?" His mouth, which was a deep and disapproving scold, now turned into a cynical smile, "You were _dancing_."

* * *

><p>Um, alright. I kinda want to have a talk with you guys about this chapter and past chapters. Normally, the reader is supposed to figure this out on their own, but since this isn't a novel and I bet you guys aren't reading this critically, I'll just tell you. Maria dancing in private, but being distant around Edward and the others implies that she feels like this world isn't her own, and that it's not worth as much as Earth does. (Edward, I feel, went through the same thing during his time on Earth.) Also, I'm trying to make it obvious between the two that Edward's life has been full of responsibility and accountability, while in Maria's life, she's lived a life that we often live; carefree and all worries passing on to people above her. So in a sense, I hope that at some point in this story, Maria will have a "coming of age" moment of which she takes responsibility, and Edward will have a moment of realizing how to relax. But that will come later. Just, you know, if you're reading this and you feel like it, please keep me updated on how I'm doing with that. : Workin' in themes here. Thanks for reading! PS. Maria can be a bitch, can't she? Damn.


	6. Chapter 6

Edward woke up that morning with a raging headache. Mustang, after seeing what he did and hearing what he said, made sure to let Edward know that he disapproved of his little speech to Maria. Al, who was sleeping peacefully beside Edward in the bed next to him, also made sure his brother knew how he felt; entering in random, "Mustang's right, Brother!" and "You should never say that to someone." In the end, Edward had become absolutely bombarded with insults and scolding that he didn't notice Maria stalk out of the office and lock herself in her room. Nor did he notice when Hawkeye, well finished with Ed, went after her. He only noticed a bright blue light when Mustang's hand met the back of his head. A lot.

And why, of all conflicts in the universe that have approached Edward in his life, should he suddenly care about how Maria feels?

_'Because you're an adult now, Ed. You can't go around insulting people.'_

_'Because you need to be nice, Brother.' _

_'Because you're being a brat.'_

And various other reasons, but Edward repressed them all.

When he walked into the kitchen that morning, intending to ask Al to cook him something, not one person looked at him. They talked amongst themselves, laughed about the crazy weather, even complimented Armstrong on his curl, but when Edward sat down at the table and reached across to get an apple, he only made contact with the corner of the eyes of his peers, and never the pupil. He didn't have an apple that morning either. And for that matter, he didn't see Maria at the table like she had been almost every day. When Edward asked where she was, again, no one said anything.

He was sure he saw his very own brother look up at him with a sad expression, pouting, as though he was doing something that he didn't want to be. And Edward figured it out. Mustang and the others told Al not to speak with Edward until Edward apologized to Maria. What a load that was.

Sighing, Edward got up from his seat in the kitchen, slammed his chair against the table, and walked out of the kitchen. Maria could be in her room, but he knew better than to check there, so he first decided that it would be best to check the dancing room.

Why was he even bothering? Most likely because if he didn't get to speak to anyone, the longer he would have to float around Central. Just get it over with. Edward hated Maria at the moment, or, in all, but it wasn't the time to be petty. Now was the time to just face it all like a man, walk into the dancing room, and...

Realize she's not there.

She wasn't in her own room either. Edward knocked for a few minutes, and then when he was sure no one would answer, he opened the door flat out and walked in.

Edward hadn't been in Maria's room, only Al. Her room was the exact same way it was a chapter ago, only that now the curtains were drawn.

Edward took his time, however. Walking around the room, he ran his fingers over the dresser and picked up some of her scarves that she had bought while in the markets with Hawkeye. The room smelled like flowers and something else, most likely a type of candy. All her belongings were flung on the floor, and only her computer was given proper space. Edward didn't like the contraption but for the time being it intrugged him. Across the screen pictures of people were slowly sliding past. There was Maria, wearing white tights and a tutu, Maria with what looked like her friends, Maria dancing, Maria and what looked like her mother, Maria with a cat, Maria with her legs in a split, and so on. In every on, Maria's smile shone past the other people of the photo. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled. She had lost that when she went through the Gate.

Sighing deeply, Edward decided it wouldn't be wise to be snooping around another's room, so he closed the door and trudged down to the kitchen where the group were still sitting. He announced, "She's gone."

Mustang perked up, "What do you mean she's gone?"

"She's not in her little ballerina room and she's not in her bedroom. She left."

Mustang got up from where he was sitting, licking his fingers of the apple turnover he was eating, and started to head out the door, "I'll ask the guard if they've seen her."

"And I'll go back to—"

"You'll come with me."

"I have work to do, Mustang." Edward countered. "I can't go chasing after a stupid—"

"Ed." Mustang warned.

"I'll come too, Brother." Alphonse said gently, and he picked up his coat and started to head to the door.

Alphonse, like Edward, had completely regained his entire body, and was now exactly in the flesh and blood that was intended at his birth. Unlike Edward, his hair was cut short and in the same style it had been before he and his elder brother had tried to transmutate their mother. And again, unlike Edward, who preferred his white shirts, brown pants and black suspenders from the roaring 20's of Europe, Alphonse decided he would wear the traditional clothes that his brother wore for the years they were together and his body was metal. Black pants, black shirt, white gloves, and Edward had given him his red coat with Izumi's crest upon the back. For those years with his brother, Alphonse yearned to wear the coat for himself; to identify himself with his past teacher and to let everyone know who he was and what he did. When he was finally able to feel the air upon his flesh once again, he blocked it out with red. The most interesting thing about the brothers, however, wasn't the clothing. While Edward's face had become worn and older and sulked, Alphonse's face was fresh, childlike, and friendly. Edward was stern, calculating, and broken; Alphonse was experiencing physical life for the second time, and anyone who knew of Al's history knew that he was enjoying it.

Edward followed his brother along the corridor, putting his coat on, "Where do you think she'd go?"

"I'm not sure, Brother. Where did you find her?"

Edward didn't need to glance at Mustang to understand why the man with the black hair started to speed up his pace and turn sharply at the corner. Upon reaching a guard, Mustang belted out, "Have you seen a young girl go through here?"

"Yes, sir." Said the guard, his hand raised to his forehead, "When we asked her where she was going, she said she was just going for a walk."

"And when was that?" Edward asked.

"About..." The guard glanced at his watch and grimaced slightly, nervous of answering either Fullmetal or the General, but he did anyway, "About five in the morning, Sir."

"And you didn't tell me?" Mustang yelled.

"I'm sorry, Sir! I assumed she was safe!"

"Forget it." Edward said, walking past the annoyed General and the nervous guards, "I'll go get her. Come on, Al."

Edward knew that Mustang would stay behind and yell at his subordinates. And he knew that Alphonse was right behind him. Why was everyone so predictable? Everyone except Maria, of course.

It didn't take long for Edward and Alphonse to arrive at the train station. "The first tunnel; Central tunnel." Edward commanded, and he jumped onto the tracks, ignoring the chorus of, 'Hey! Come back here! Hey kid!' from behind him. Alphonse loyally followed, but from the soft shuffle of his brother's feet and the fact that Alphonse was gaining speed on him, Edward knew that his brother didn't like the idea of being on the tracks.

"Brother." Whimpered Al, "Maria couldn't possibl—"

"Shush." Edward said, and they approached the tunnel.

It was dark, no trains were around, and Edward mentally noted that he should have checked the times of the trains before entering the tunnel. But it was large enough to fit both tracks on either side. One for going east and one for going west. If a train were to come, and so long a second one didn't come during its time, Edward could easily pop over to the remaining tracks safely. The tunnel was largely uncovered; things like vandalizing and graffiti had yet to come into play in Edward's time, and even if they had, the Military would do well to eliminate anything of the sort. However, the Military only went through this particular tunnel every once in a while, and Mustang, who often gave out the commands to clean any garbage directed at the Military, was obviously busy. So Edward wasn't surprised to see some fresh paintings sprawled along the walls surrounding him and his brother. He also wasn't surprised to see that the sun had allowed enough like into the tunnel to allow him to see the third thing he wasn't surprised about: Maria, standing in the middle of the tracks, staring up at the wall.

"Maria!" Alphonse said, and he rushed to her. Edward slowly followed. "Where have you been? Brother and I have been—What are you looking at?"

"That's it." Maria murmured softly. "That's how I got here."

Edward glared at Maria but looked up at the wall of the tunnel. She was staring at something that had been drawn in blood, another thing that didn't surprise him. A line was descending all along the entirety of the tunnel so that it went along the ceiling and to the floor in one long flow. In the middle of the line, on the ceiling, was a Transmutation Circle. It looked, and smelled, like it had been there for a few days. Enough days for a young woman to fall into his world.

Maria spoke again. "I haven't crossed it. I'm not sure how..."

"Well it's a good thing you didn't try." Edward said, walking up to her and grabbing her by the elbow, "We better get you back to Centra—"

"Could you, you know, stop?" Maria said, only her voice was flat and her face was expressionless. She looked at Edward and pulled her elbow away before looking up at the line.

"You weren't going to do anything crazy, were you?"

"What does it take." Maria asked, "To get to the other world."

"What do you mean?" Alphonse asked, while Edward furrowed his brow and looked around him to see if any of the train workers had noticed they were there.

"What do I have to do, right now, in this spot, to cross over?"

"We're not going to tell you." Edward said, interrupting the correct answer that was bound to come out of Alphonse's face.

Maria looked at Edward, her eyes sad, and she said, "If I don't get home soon, I'll lose everything."

"You won't lose anything." Edward said, "Only time."

"Time's all we have now." Maria assured, "And so little too. It's moving faster and faster everyday and I can't stop it." Maria, after realizing that the boys weren't going to allow her to pass across the Gate, turned around and lifted one of her feet onto the rail so that she was balancing, "I have to build my future before time runs out."

"You're right about one thing." Edward said, "Time is going faster in your time. A lot faster than here."

"That's why I'm so tired here."

Edward approached Maria again, but didn't take her arm, finally learning that Maria didn't appreciate being grabbed, "Come back to Central. Where you're safe."

"And what about you?" Maria asked.

"You don't have to worry about my safety."

"Not that. I'm asking if you've run out of time."

Edward stopped looking around the tunnel and blinked at the girl before him, "What?"

"Did you have enough time to grow up?"

"No." Edward said quickly, "I had about ten minutes, really."

There was a pause between the three of them. Edward, who had decided it best to watch a little bug wander here and there around their feet than looked at his younger brother, almost felt uncomfortable. Because he knew that Maria's eyes were upon him, watching him, analysing his statement and Alphonse too. But in his line of sight, he saw a small petite hand appear below his nose. Edward looked up to see Maria's hand outstretched. She then said, "I propose a truce."

Edward glanced at Alphonse, who smiled brightly, but he only glared down at Maria, "And the conditions of this truce?"

"You have to be my balance while I practice." Maria started, "And you have to try your very best to get me back home."

Edward sneered and looked around the tunnel, trying to find a way to escape the fact that he'll have to be standing and holding Maria with one arm while she stood still and boring and doing the very thing that bothered him most; dancing. But eventually he lifted his hand and took her own, shaking it. "Only if you stop saying I'm bad with girls."

"Oh, trust me; I don't _have_to say it." Maria said, and she turned around to head back to Central. Edward snarled but followed.

"Well then!" Mustang said, prancing around the office at Edward's announcement, "That's great. She's safe, you two are going to work together, that's great. Hurry up then."

"Mustang, I think I know how she got here now." Edward said.

Mustang stopped his prancing and stared at Edward, "And?"

"There's a Transmutation Circle in the tunnel."

"And you think she got here that way?"

"The blood is human."

Mustang sighed and walked around his office, suddenly stern again, suddenly tired, like this job was too much, like this kid before him was too much, and he started to think. "We can just send her back, then."

"Is it safe?"

"No." Mustang said, "No it isn't."

"I just don't get it..." Edward whispered to himself. Leaning back on the brown leather chair that Mustang had in his office for guests, and crossing one of his legs over the other. He placed his hand over his mouth and looked out the window, deep in thought, seeming confused. He also realized that he hadn't shaved that morning; his skin was rough.

"What's not to get?" Mustang asked, "We cut open her finger so she's bleeding and have her go through the Gate."

"No. Not that."

"Are you worried about what time she'll arrive to?" Mustang asked, "Because I've thought about it too, and at worst, she's only missing a couple of years."

But Edward shook his head, "No, no. Not that."

"Then what? What are you confused about now?"

"She's just so.._confusing_."

Mustang, who had been pacing around his office and only glancing at Edward for the sake of the conversation, stopped and looked down at his Fullmetal Alchemist. "I beg your pardon?"

"One night she's a perfect lady, then the next night she picks a fight, and now she's calling a truce..."

"Ed."

"I just don't' get it. How can someone go through so many moods? Well, I suppose Winry went through her moods in a matter of minutes. But Maria won't tell us anything about New York. It's like she's hiding something from us. And the clothes she wears..."

"Edward."

"Are all girls like that?" Edward asked, "So...crazy? They think all the time! And about different things when they're not supposed to. Are they always so unfocused? And Maria especially. She only focuses when she's dancing. She's so...distant.."

"Edward!" Mustang said, right into the ear of the blond, and Edward jumped and covered his ears out of pain. Mustang then smiled and said, "Wow. You are bad with girls."

It had become customary for the men of the military to sit amongst themselves and have drinks after a particularly long day of work. However, for the case of Maria and the past five days of her being in Amestris, it was almost every night now that the men sat around in a circle in the middle of Mustang's study, an alcoholic drink in each hand, albeit Al, for he was too young. Only one drink was allowed by Mustang before he would shuffle the men out of his study and tell them to go home and get rest for the next day. These meetings were to Mustang a casual debriefing, a place where they could all hypothesize and debate amongst themselves of the best solution to whatever problem they were having. Often, Mustang found the answers to his problems among his men while at these meetings, and he valued them greatly. Sitting in his comfy brown leather chair next to the fire, Mustang would lean back against the backrest with his scotch in his hand, his uniform unbuttoned, and he would ask the other man of their progress during the day. Edward, who hardly ever came to Central, made sure to attend these meetings for Mustang. He too found answers in the strangest places. At the moment, he had both the sleeves of his shirt pushed up past his elbows so that he could scratch his freshly flesh arm and hold his scotch in the other, his hair was down, feeling to let it down when he didn't have to move, and he was sitting up straight so that he could look over Mustang and into the fire. He enjoyed how the air of the flames creeped along the room and kissed him on the cheeks, allowed him to be calm and to think; warmth, all over his body, his arms, his toes, his nose, all of which he seemed to have lost sight in, could be seen within the fire. And when he could see his comfort, he could think. And it was at that moment, with Mustang, Havoc, Falman, Alphonse and Armstrong sitting in the room in silence, that Edward was thinking.

None of the men had spoken yet, not even Mustang; he was often the one to start the conversation of the meeting. But this evening he was quiet as well, thinking of what Edward had mentioned earlier in the evening after he and Maria got home. The other men had been told of the development by Hawkeye before she went home. It was amazing how six men could all be trying to think of a conclusion, and five of them knew only one of the members could enact it.

"What do you say, Ed?"

"It's possible." Edward grumbled, taking a sip of his drink.

"But Maria doesn't know alchemy." Alphonse said, "She doesn't know what to do."

"You can guide her, then." Mustang offered.

"I don't think so." Al said. He was sitting in front of Edward on the floor, for there wasn't enough chairs to accommodate the two boys. He had his legs curled up underneath him and instead of a scotch; he was holding only a glass or water. "We should just ask her to stay. She's safe here and now. If we try to send her back-"

"Al." Edward said gently, "Did you noticed her today? How desperately she wanted to go home? She was almost delirious." Edward blinked slowly and took another sip, "Don't you remember how bad I wanted to get home? I would have done anything, even gone to the moon, to try to get back to you. Maria is feeling the same thing."

"But you said it yourself that the only thing she has is dancing and nothing else to worry about." Al countered, straining his neck to watch Edward take another sip, "She wouldn't be losing anything if she stayed."

"She said she would. She just won't tell us what." And Al was defeated.

Mustang, who had gone to looking into the fire for the duration of the boys' conversation, brought himself back to say, "When are you going to send her back, then?"

"The sooner the better." Edward mused, "Tomorrow. We'll send her back tomorrow." And he watched as Alphonse silently got up from where he was sitting before him and left the room. He ran his fingers through his hair before taking another sip and watching Mustang from over the glass.

Alphonse didn't like the idea of just shuffling Maria out of their world. Edward was only doing what Maria asked him to do, which was to use all he could in his power to get her home. But what of the safety of Maria during her ride through the worlds? What if she did turn up at the wrong time? Or worse, what if she wasn't safe once she got back? Certainly, being that Alphonse had the bad experience of being in Europe with his brother, a child being away from home for more than a night was a cause of panic. What would Maria's mother think when her daughter came home from a five day stay in another world, only spoken about by her grandmother? Would they think Maria was insane? Would they put Maria in a home like her grandmother? Would Maria become an outcast, thought of insane, be abused? Sadly, Alphonse thought as he approached the door that was Maria's room, most people from Maria's world often didn't turn out well after finding out about this one.

Maria was sitting on her bed at her computer when she glanced up upon Alphonse opening the door. She smiled, only politely, and said, "Alphonse."

"Hi." Alphonse said, and he walked in to stand next to the door awkwardly, "...How are you?"

"I'm fine. Riza got me some dinner and now I'm just writing."

"Writing?"

"I have a report due for when I get home." Maria said, "It's not due for a couple of weeks, but without Internet here, it's the only thing that amuses me." And she typed a few words before saving; she looked up at him, "Did you want something?"

"Maria, I..." Alphonse started, but he couldn't. At least not now. "Do you know how to ball dance?"

Maria was slightly taken aback by his answer, but she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Yes."

He knew that his brother would disapprove. But Alphonse went years without his body, without allowing his skin and his blood to flow; without feeling his entire body flow and sway. And watching his brother once ball dance with Rose was enough to make him want to ball dance as well, but he never got the chance. Rose was hardly around anymore, Winry most certainly didn't know how, and Edward would surely never teach him. Maria was his only chance to finally learning the skill; he wanted to learn before she left. "Could you teach me?" He'd tell her later.

"Sure." Maria said, and she got up from where she was sitting and pulled an oversized sweater over her, "We better go out to the dancing room, then."

Maria was small and Alphonse was small as well,, only a year a part being that Alphonse was 18 and Maria was 17, they fit together well. But Alphonse still felt awkward. When Maria approached him and took his hand to put on her waist, he flinched, but she only gently scolded him and said, "Follow my steps now. That's it. When you get better, you won't look down so much."

Alphonse didn't step on her foot once, but that was because she was used to teaching the beginners and would swiftly hop her foot away before he could touch it. He stumbled, couldn't twirl the small girl before him well, and often sighed of defeat when she stopped him and told him he was doing something wrong. But little by little, he got the hang of it. Finally, Maria was able to hold only one of his hands and stand next to him as they went through the steps, twirl with him, and get him to relax. "Not so stiff, now." Maria would say gently, and she'd nod in approval when he finally got it right. They danced for an hour, and during that hour, the meeting finally convened.

Edward had gone to the dancing hall looking for Alphonse when he stopped at the frame of the door and watched as his little brother danced around with Maria. He overheard her explain, "The pressure is always on the girl to do the best dancing. You only need to catch me, really. And make sure to pay attention to my hands. There you are."

In his mind, Edward thought that Al was wasting time. He should be telling Maria of her trip home instead of dancing with her. But when he watched as Alphonse yelled in excitement as Maria telling him he finally got it, Edward smiled. He could never stop himself from smiling when his brother was happy. Small details that Edward had taken for granted; dancing, feeling cold, being short, Al's smile, he hadn't thought about what Alphonse must have thought of them, or missed them.

"Al." Edward finally said, walking out onto the floor and stopping the two of them, "We need to be getting to bed."

"Did you see that, though?" Alphonse asked, "I can dance!"

"That's great, Al. But Maria is going to need rest for tomorrow."

"What's tomorrow?" Maria asked, finally letting go of Alphonse's hand so she could give her full attention to the older brother. It was at this point that Alphonse realized that he was missing his chance to know how to ball dance.

"You're going home tomorrow." Edward said. "We're going to send you home."

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><p>I changed the chapter up a bit, but it's still the same if you've read it before. It's not a good chapter, but it has information on the story. Thanks for reading!<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

**"Drops of Jupiter" by Train will be mentioned in this song. Also, I've changed the end of the last chapter. If you haven't read it, it's only the last couple of paragraphs. Thanks for reading!**

Maria didn't sleep that night.  
>Alphonse didn't sleep either.<p>

The only one who was able to sleep that night was Edward, and that was because he knew what the outcome of the experiment would be, and dwelling upon it wasn't going to make his day any easier. So he curled up and listened to the mixture of Alphonse's turning and sighing and the rain pattering across the roof of the military base before slowly drifting to sleep. It was a troubled sleep, a short troubled sleep, but it was more sleep then his little brother and their guest got.

Edward had told Mustang to stop the trains the next morning so he, Maria and Alphonse would be able to get Maria home without any disturbances, and Mustang made sure to call the train station and inform them of the operation. Edward was to be awake at six sharp to prepare Alphonse and Maria, and figure out a way in which to draw Maria's blood. On December 22nd in 1918 in the city of Central, there would only be one train passing through the Station; the very train, Mustang tracked it down, that Maria had rode upon in her journey to Edward's world. There would only be four occupants boarding that train, in the carriage that Maria had ridden in. And the hope was that there would only be three alighting.

Edward had strictly informed Alphonse right before he went to sleep to not allow his emotions to interfere in Maria's journey, and that if something went wrong, which it might, Alphonse was not to do anything rash. Stern. Edward had to be stern. Because it was the only way to keep his younger brother in check.

The next morning, Edward was shaken away by an already prepared and excited Alphonse. "Come on, Brother! We need to get ready!"

"Since when are you excited about this?" Edward groaned as he pulled himself up on his elbows, rubbing his eyes and running his fingers through his knotted hair.

"I'm excited because Maria is excited." Alphonse said.

Edward followed his brother down to the kitchen to find Maria dancing to one of her songs again, prancing around the room, cooking and cleaning, singing, smiling, just like she smiled in the photographs Edward saw on her computer. Its lyrics went like this: "Tell me, did you sail across the sun? Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded, and that heaven is overrated?" And Edward made a mental note at Maria's odd choice of songs. And Maria was moving her hips and yelling and cooking and being overall very odd to Alphonse and Edward and very out of place; but she was happy, and most girls are very odd when they are happy. The bass on the computer was loud, causing Edward to purse his lips together and look around the kitchen to see if any of the guards had come to investigate, but none had, and Edward assumed it was because they knew of her excitement. The only difference between Maria's dancing a few nights ago and her dancing now, was that when she noticed the two boys standing in the doorway watching her, she didn't stop, she merely danced over to them, grabbed Alphonse by the hands, and start to ball dance with him; even though the music was not something to ball dance to. Alphonse laughed and danced along, yelling, "Brother! Look, I remember my steps!" And he lifted her up and twirled her, while she gracefully stuck out her legs and landed like the ballerina she was.

Maria smiled even wider, Edward had never seen it before, and let go of Edward's brother to prance over to Edward, take his hands, and pull him into a dance as well. Different to ball dancing, she merely held on and spun around with him, laughing at his confusion. She was singing along with the lyrics, yelling out "Tell me!" and she'd let go of his hands to spin. It was during one of these spins that she spun too fast, and she ran into Edward laughing. And he got a good look at her then. Her cheeks were flushed because of her smile, her eyes were sparkling, and her lips were red; color had come back to her once again, after going so long without a proper smile and a proper laugh. Her hair was down and not messy, but straight and with a single braid keeping her bangs away from her eyes. Her hands were soft and small in his own rough ones, and he realized he had forgotten the feel of a woman's hands in his own. She gave him a toothy smile and said, "You're keeping your promise too! And you'll be able to go back home with Al."

"Yeah." Edward said quietly, as she turned away from him, bored of his delayed response, and skipped around the kitchen to fetch the food she was making. But Edward stood disturbed.

"I've made breakfast for you guys. As a thank you." Maria continued, placing two plates in front of the Elric brothers. Edward smiled and watched as she placed three pancakes on his plate and three on his brothers, before taking one for herself and sitting down. They ate in silence, quickly, because Maria needed to get home.

Mustang chaperoned the three of them to the train station and boarded with them. He sat down in one of the benches and watched as Maria pulled her winter coat on from New York. She put on her scarf that she bought with Hawkeye ("Make sure to wish her goodbye for me?") and pulled on her two pairs of gloves. Edward found it odd to watch her prepare to be plunged into the cool winter breeze of New York while he was actually in the middle of a desert.

The carriage was silent, it hadn't started to move yet, and the only sound that could be heard by the four people was the rain on the metal. It had been raining since early last night and it wouldn't let up soon. It barely rained, but when it did, it stayed for some time. Finally, quietly, Maria said, "I think the first thing I'll do when I go home is take a nap." Her smile widened and she gave a glance to the boys, who were all sitting on the benches watching her, "We can't afford heat so when it's really chilly outside, I steal a bunch of blankets from my mother's closet and make a cocoon with them in my bed. And when my mother's working late my little sister will sleep with me." She moved her bag so that it was on her shoulder, balancing out the weight, "And I think I'll get a Big Mac on my way home, too. I'll be starving I bet. Cold and starving." She smiled again, "But home."

"You'll make Christmas." Edward mumbled.

Maria nodded and looked down at the shopping bags she had been carrying during her journey to Edward's world, "Yeah. Christmas. Family..."

"It's too bad we can't keep in contact." Alphonse said, "To make sure you got there safe."

"I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Come here." Edward said softly, and he got up from where he was sitting and took her hand. Maria half assumed that he was going to do something kind and romantic, to kiss the top of it and wish her well, tell her that it was a pleasure knowing her and that he was glad that he met her despite the awful arguments that they had shared before. But he only pulled out a small needle from the pocket of his trench coat and pricked her finger. He squeezed the blood out so that only a little bead was showing, and then he let the hand go, and walked back to his seat.

And the train started to move itself forward, causing Maria to grab on to one of the bars and balance herself. Edward leaned back against the bench, his eyes darting around the carriage for any sign of alchemic science, and he folded his arms over his chest. Alphonse leaned forward in his seat and watched Maria intently, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide; he didn't want to miss anything. Mustang watched the wall outside the window, counting the marks of which it would take to get to the point that Edward had mentioned. There was rain everywhere and he could hardly see anything, but when he saw the last mark, he whispered out loud so Maria could hear, "About ten feet left." And Edward looked away as Maria's smile widened again.

Maria closed her eyes and all she could see was darkness and all she could hear was the speeding train around her. Maria had ridden on the trains of New York all her life, as previously stated, and she could pin point her very location by the sway of her carriage. The noises—was she in the city? Which station was she at?—was also a proud indicator of where she was. Soon she would be going from the rough and jagged rocking on the Ametris train into the smooth, plastic, and familiar sway of the New York subway. She would be able to smell the same fast food that people brought on to the train, and be able to hear the New Jersey accent mixed in with her own, with her fellow Americans, talking and laughing. She'd be able to hear all the Santa's on the corner asking for donations, and if she arrived into the city early enough in the night, she might even be able to hear the Christmas carols in Central Park. Everything that she had taken for granted she would be able to experience once again; once the train stopped jerking as it was.

But it never did.

Tears were already in Maria's eyes before she opened them because she knew there would be no use in expecting anything different. The train left the Central Tunnel and went back into the rain, and Maria, once her eyes were open, saw the plains that she had seen when she first arrived; only less cheerful. She didn't turn her head to see what the men were doing, but this was what she would have seen:

Mustang's lips were tight and his hand was over his mouth, watching with pity as her mouth started to hang open in disbelief. He let in a large sigh of frustration and tiresome agony, knowing that Edward wouldn't appreciate having to stay in Central to finish this job. Then he dragged his hand down his chin, swallowed hard, and looked out the window, already writing a report of the failure in his head. Alphonse, who had always been the most emotional, was standing up from his bench and leaning on the wall, prepared to run to her if she so much as looked at him, but at the moment he was only in shock. Edward's reaction was full of two emotions. The first being that he was angry that his calculations were incorrect, and Mustang was right, he wasn't at all happy about having to stay in Central to try again. His arms were over his chest still, his eyes were narrowed and watching strongly as Maria dropped her shopping bags in one lank movement. The other emotion, which would anger Maria greatly, was his relief. Something deep down inside him, a prowling animal, had said the word, "Good." But Edward suppressed it.

After letting a small hiccup escape her now pale lips, Maria fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. She leaned forward so that her forehead was touching the floor before her, and Edward heard her let out one of the most pitiful and painful screams of agony that he had recently heard. She started to ball, tears rolled off her cheeks and down her mouth, up her forehead, and around her nose. She sniffed, there was snot but Edward ignored it, and her body started to shake violently. She didn't say anything either, but only gritted her teeth and let out the same wails as before. Alphonse was the only one who moved forward, lurching from where he was standing, he fell down beside her and pulled her into a comforting hug, whispering small utterances to her and looking up at Edward desperately. Only Edward looked away, like Mustang, seeming to want to find another way to get her home before speaking to her again.

The train stopped and Mustang got up from where he was sitting and picked up her shopping bags while Alphonse pulled Maria up by her shoulders and ushered her out of the carriage. "It'll work next time." Alphonse whispered to her, "Don't worry. We'll try again soon." But Maria only sniffled; her wailing had stopped, and looked down to the ground before her.

"Well?" Mustang said to Edward, "What happened?" And he opened an umbrella for Alphonse and Maria before opening one for himself; Edward had his own.

"The rain." Edward sighed, "It erased the Transmutation Circle in the tunnel."

"And how long have you known this?"

"Since last night." Edward mumbled, glancing at the girl to make sure she was out of earshot.

Mustang nodded, "Same here."

"We would have come here anyway to try." Edward reasoned, "So there was no point in telling her."

Maria had pushed Alphonse off by now, wanting to stand by herself, and she turned around from where she and Alphonse were waiting for Edward and Mustang. Edward refused to make eye contact, and only Mustang addressed her, "We'll try again soon, Maria. Don't worry, we'll get you home."

Maria glanced at Mustang but seemed to be more interested in the tunnel behind them. The train had stopped right outside it on Mustang's command. She gave a half-hearted glanced at Alphonse, who was trying to make the umbrella stay in one place, and before Edward or Mustang could catch her, she dashed out from under the shelter and started for the tunnel. Edward bitterly noted how fast she was.

"Maria!" Alphonse yelled.

"Dammit!" Edward said, and he threw his own umbrella down before running after Maria as well. Only Mustang stayed behind to find a phone and call in a car. Walking back to Command wasn't going to work.

Maria ignored the calls of the boys and hopped over the gate and onto the train tracks. She was still wearing her winter jacket, only it was now soaked with rain and she was starting to shiver. But she started into the tunnel anyway.

"Maria! Get back here!" Edward yelled. He slipped and fell in the rain, splashing angrily in one of the puddles. He got up onto his knees and ripped the trench coat off before following his little brother and the stupid girl into the darkness of the tunnel. He _knew_ she would do this. He just knew that she would go back to the tunnel and attempt to cross to the Gate on foot, even though the train might have held something of importance for the equation. Of course she would. She wasn't logical, she wasn't scientific, or reasonable, or even smart. She was stupid and emotional and desperate; just like Noah. Growling at the resemblance, he gained speed.

He stopped only when he saw Alphonse, who had stopped. "Where the hell is she?"

"I can't find her, Brother." Alphonse said.

Edward looked around himself and found a can made of aluminium. Clapping his hands, he touched the can and it turned into a small lantern. Edward then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small matchbox, of which he lit the candle that he had transmuted inside it. Lights flooded the small tunnel and Edward could see his brother beside him, looking at the light and then Edward. Nodding, Edward looked around the tunnel. The outline of Maria's body was just before him, just before the blood line, only it was frozen in what Edward could see was fear. Furrowing his brows in annoyance and curiosity, Edward advanced with the lantern, allowing the ray of light to pass over Maria's head and to the creature before her. It was a woman, covered in blood and with red eyes, looking down at Maria was a sinister smile across her face. It was the woman that Mustang and the other men were perusing when they had found Maria in the carriage only six days before; the woman who was doing Human Transmutations.

"Alphonse." Edward warned, "Remember what I said to you last night." He waited while his brother let out a small sound of affirmation, "Take Maria, and bring her back here. Do not attack the woman. Understand?"

"Yes."

"When I say."

"Yes."

And Edward wondered around the side of the tunnel, the woman watched him sharply. "Hello!" Edward said, seeming to be nonchalant, "What has given us the pleasure of seeing you in here?"

"Don't smart me, Alchemist." The woman bit out.

"No." Edward agreed, and he became parallel to Maria. Her eyes, still red from her crying, were wide, looking to the woman before her. She hadn't even acknowledged the woman. Edward looked at the woman, "It seems we've crossed paths for a similar reason. You're doing Human Transmutations."

"I am." The woman giggled madly.

"Without physical payment?" Edward said, trying to act surprised, "How are you doing that, now?"

"I've got a Stone." The woman snarled, "And you can't have it!"

In one fluid movement, Edward clapped his hands and laid them on the ground, allowing a javelin to emerge from the ground before him; from the metal of the tracks. The woman before him jumped away and prepared to fight for her Philosopher's Stone, which was tied as a necklace around her neck. He pulled the javelin up and positioned it before him before yelling, "Now, Al!" And he watched out of the corner of his eye as his brother grabbed Maria by the shoulders and yanked her back, causing her to fall on her bum with a yelp. Edward jumped in front of them, interrupting the woman who had gone after Maria, and said, "You can't have her."

"She's one of my experiments!" The woman yelled, "I got her from the other world! She's mine!"

"She's no one's!" Edward yelled, "She's not supposed to even be here. How did you get her here?"

"By a sacrifice." The woman said, and she looked at Maria, "A human sacrifice." And Edward heard Maria gasp and was sure she covered her mouth in horror.

"Ignore her, Maria." Edward said.

"I'll take her and I'll show the world of my new discovery."

"What discovery? Of another world? How did you even find out?"

"A couple of years ago, an army of armour invaded Liore." The woman giggled, "And I saw a woman from another world, and I knew that there was one! And I've set out to find a way to get there!"

"It's a bit of a shame that it's not much of a discovery." Edward said dryly.

But the woman ignored him, and she glanced over his shoulder to sneer at Maria, "I'll use the girl as a ransom and take over the other world. We'll rule it, steal their technology, and be the strongest world!"

"This is stupid." Edward said, and he lurched forward to pierce the woman with the javelin. He heard the yells of other Military personal, Mustang must have called them for backup, and he was relieved to hear Hawkeye's gun go off. The woman screamed and danced back, breathing hard. Edward stopped and gave her a critical look, and turned around to the people behind him and said, "Stop a moment!" before addressing the woman, "You...You can't do alchemy, can you?"

The woman snarled and threw a rock at him. Edward, once angry and frustrated and annoyed, burst into laughter. "You!" He said, pointing at the woman, "You were just drawing circles that you've seen before in blood and carrying around a Philosopher's Stone! You don't even know how to use it!"

"Shut up!" The woman yelled.

"You don't even understand the science of alchemy. No wonder you don't care about Human Transmutation!" Edward said, and he became stern. He was going to school this bitch before the Military got to her, "Your soul is being ripped a part because of what you're doing. You may think that you're safe using the Stone, but you're only making people suffer more. You don't understand chemistry, or Equivalent Exchange." He looked her up and down and noticed her daggy clothing and dirty face, "I wouldn't even been surprised if you couldn't read."

And Edward realized that the woman had no means of defending herself. Dropping his javelin, he waved his hand as a signal and the Military ran up to the woman and grabbed her around the arms, despite her protests, and dragged her out of the tunnel. All that worry, the danger, Maria's stupidity, was for nothing. The least the people of his life could do was give him an interesting fight. Not just a stupid woman with a Stone.

"I'll destroy it." Mustang assured as he walked away from the scene, "There's a car waiting for you and the others."

Maria hadn't spoken to Edward since before they got onto the train. She nodded when Alphonse lowered her into a chair and asked her if he had permission to pull her winter coat and scarves off of her, but that was it. Then Alphonse led her to Mustang's study to sit her in front of the fire, to warm her. Edward only followed silently and he and Alphonse stood behind Maria as she curled her legs up to her chest and laid down in front of the fire; small sniffles escaping her frame.

"Brother." Alphonse whispered, "What happened?"

Edward shook his head, "We'll talk about it later." And he winced as another hiccup came from Maria. Edward watched as Alphonse's eyes grew sad, and he said, "You go on to bed. I'll watch after her. You need rest."

"And what about you?"

"I'll be fine. Go on, now." And Alphonse, never able to truly debate with his elder brother, sighed and turned around, leaving Edward and Maria alone.

Edward approached the girl and sat down in one of the leather chairs that Mustang owned. He was still wet but not as much as Maria was. Leaning back on his seat with a headache approaching, he watched as every few moments she sniffled and hiccupped before reaching up silently to wipe away her tears. He watched as her hair slowly dried and became silky and smooth once again, and her body became limp from exhaustion. When he was sure that she was asleep, Edward pulled himself from the chair he was dozing on, lifted her up, silently thanked her for being so petite, and carried her to her bed. Edward silently tucked her in like he had done years before with Alphonse, and when he was about to get up and leave the room he heard a soft noise from behind him. But he ignored it, and shut the door behind him.

* * *

><p>I dare say, my chapters are becoming longer instead of shorter. Romance will begin next chapter. Reviews on my writing are much appreciated and thanks for reading! :)<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

Edward had called Winry with Alphonse by his side to inform her of their late arrival. There was a pause on the phone after the news, and Winry suggested that they bring Maria with them to Rosembool. Alphonse was all for it, Edward was not. It was hard enough leaving Munich with Alfons during his years in Europe, and he had to be convinced to leave and tread away from the place of which he assumed he could easily get back. Maria would do the same.

Maria. Speaking of. She had spent most of her days in her room with the curtains drawn. She didn't come out, not even for dinner, and Hawkeye feared she was losing weight. But Edward strictly told them never to interfere with Maria's mood. He would, when he felt right and knew of a better solution, approach her. For now, she needed to be left alone. He was right in doing so, for Maria felt more out of place than she did when she first landed in Central. She didn't like the food, the clothes, and the culture. She felt alone, isolated, lost, and no one was helping her get back from where she came. Sure, Edward had tried, but he failed. Being alone in the dark was the only thing that was able to sooth her rushing mind and hurting soul.

It wasn't until three days later, on December 25th, the day in which Christmas was supposed to be happening for Maria, that Edward saw her emerge from her room. Edward had woken up at the crack of dawn in order to travel to the library and take up his research once again. Being as intelligent as he was, he found it odd that he couldn't find a solution quick enough, and it was eating him up inside more than the fact that Maria couldn't get home. The Gate, a large and mysterious thing, always found a way to elude even the most intelligent of alchemists; himself, his father, and many between. But Edward knew that no matter how many books he pulled from those dusty shelves, and he's pulled a lot, he'd never truly understand the Gate's power until he, himself, met his end. But the library was quiet and the librarian was finally used to seeing him, so he went.

Edward had snuck out of the room before Alphonse could be woken up, washed his face and tied up his hair, before grabbing his coat and bag and heading out the small room into the large corridors of Central Command. There were no lights on, but the sun was casting long golden shadows along the walls and showing Edward enough light for him to follow. He passed the large room that Maria was dancing and almost walked right on past if he hadn't heard a soft thump and a sigh of frustration from the other side of the door.

Edward stopped and listened again, pressing his ear against the wood and holding his breath. Sure enough, there was another thump, a growl of anger, and some stomping around. Someone was in there, attempting to do something, but was failing. Edward gently pushed open the door and peeked inside.

All the windows were open so that the sun bounced off the glass on the other side of the room and there was a yellow haze over everything. It was beautiful, to Edward, watching the dust from the moving girl settle, surprised, and land on the floor before being kicked up again by her attempted twirls. Edward watched as the small frame, tan now because of the light, got up from where she was sitting on the ground and positioned herself. She was wearing a tight long sleeve shirt and her tights under a thin skirt, far too cold for being outside, but Edward could tell from her red forehead that she was overheating anyway. She looked smaller to Edward, weaker, like a part of her was being taken away from herself and given to something else. Something that was sucking away all her life, but it wasn't the Gate, no, the Gate wouldn't do that. It was her dancing.

Edward watched as she took a deep breath and hopped on one foot, balanced, and flicked her other foot around and twirled. She tried to do this over and over again but only got to the third time around before falling on her knees. She let out a yell of frustration, like the one that caught Edward's attention in the first place, and slammed her fists against the wood before her. Sighing and breathing hard, she reached up through her hair to her face, Edward couldn't see this, and wiped something away; Edward assumed it was tears.

She stood up again, twirled again, fell down again, and sighed again.

Then she attempted to just stand there, with her leg up, and stretch with her toes pointed, making an upside down 'L' shape with her whole body. She held it for a few moments, and again, fell.

Edward gently placed his bag on the food and took off his coat before unbuttoning his sleeves and rolling them up so that they stopped right above his elbows. He reached up and tightened his ponytail before walking out onto the wood towards Maria. She had gone back to twirling and had fallen once again, gotten up, and positioned herself. Edward was never really one to be impulsive and invasive, always preferring to calculate and understand something before diving in, always wanting to understand every single component of the problem before finally stepping towards it with his solution. But Maria wasn't a problem that his chemistry could solve. There was no solution that he could think of which his great mind that could possibly soothe her. The only thing he could do was do what she was doing; functioning only on emotion and with the flesh and something deep inside him that didn't ever want to tell him its real plan. Edward gently coughed.

Maria spun around—Why couldn't she just twirl like that?—and watched as Edward approached her. When he was close enough, he held out his hand. She took it, and he took another step forward. Taking the hand she had given him, Edward placed it gently in his before taking her second hand and placing it on his own shoulder. When Edward was sure she was prepared, for she silently looked down at their feet and squared her shoulders, Edward snaked his hand around her waist. He kept his fingers wide so that the circumference reached the entirety of Maria's small back. Gently, he pushed her forward so that she was closer to him.

At that angle, it can be said that Edward was a full head taller than Maria, while Alphonse would be equal to Edward's height. Smirking softly, Edward tilted his head and led the two of them in a ball dance. Maria followed suit silently, going over the steps mechanically, not looking up at Edward but at the buttons on his shirt, seeming to find all the answers in his heart than in his eyes. Edward looked over her head and made sure not to trip over her.

He could feel from her spine that Hawkeye was correct; she had been losing weight. And he would most certainly scold her about this after their dance. But at the time being, he wanted to enjoy it.

Edward and Maria worked well together, and soon Maria was able to pull away from him, spin, and come back into his arms smoothly. Her cheeks had dried but Edward distinctly saw red splotches over them. Edward smiled at her as she breathed deeply when he pulled her close and swayed with her, when she rested her head upon his chest, and tightened her grip on his own. Then he would let her go, let her spin free, her arms stretched out and welcoming this new world, before he would take her again in his shelter made of his arms.

It came to the point, in their dancing, that Edward had bent his head low and pressed his cheek against her own hot ones, and she'd reply with lifting her chin up and greeting him. And again, he'd sway with her and send her spinning before him. He watched as her cheeks started to redden even more, and it wasn't because she was crying. She smiled, the type of smile he once saw in a photograph, and for the first time during their dance, she looked him in the eyes.

She sighed again and looked down as he pulled her to him, and she swayed her hips with his again. Bashful, she was, which was odd for a girl of such fire, Edward thought. She could become so passionate, so embodied with her opinions and her voice that Edward never thought that she could just be a simple being, doing a simple dance, with a simple man. He always assumed that she'd find a way to complicate things a little more than she had to, and find a way to undermine him in the process. But Edward soon discovered that dancing wasn't her only worry. No, dancing was her therapy against her worries. He watched her, her eyes glass over, her upper teeth bite down on her lower lip, her body curve towards him and back again, and he understood and became entranced at the sight of her. However not nearly as entranced as she was in her dancing. He watched as her mind became blank, only coming to focus when she was pressed against him, because it was at that moment that Maria didn't want to make a fool of herself. She was like a little doll; porcelain, small, weak doll.

Finally, Edward found himself with his arms wrapped around her waist and her hands pressed against his chest, pulling him closer more than pushing him away. Her nose was nuzzled into the bone that marked the union of his shoulder and collarbone, and Edward was rubbing circles in her lower back with his thumb to comfort her. He had buried his face into her hair and was breathing in her scent, and he mentally thanked her for still cleaning herself in her days of isolation. And they were swaying again, no twirling or fancy moves or balancing, only swaying slowly, silently, they hadn't spoken all morning.

Edward leaned down, closer to her ear, and kissed the bit between the top of her earlobe and her hairline, making her shudder. That's right, Edward hadn't shaved properly in the last few days, and his facial hair tickled her. He smiled against her head, felt her ear rise in her own smile, and continued to sway.

Something about her fragile power, her small frail body shaking and shivering, that gave him the initiative to protect her. Obviously, Edward noted bitterly, no one in her other world had properly tended to her. Her grandmother branded her and her own mother couldn't give her a form of heat at night, but he let those thoughts pass. He'd never understand her desperation to go home no matter how hard he tried, but he didn't need to worry about that either. For the moment, kissing her below the ear now, Edward only worried about the illogical, unreasonable, utterly unscientific girl wrapped in his arms, pressed against him, comfortable, warm, safe. Edward mused over the fact that some things, like girls and worlds and Gates and love, were never all that logical to begin with.

And Maria looked at him, questioningly, with her deep blue eyes looking up into his gold ones, asking something that he didn't know the answer to. Do you really? She asked. I'm not sure. He replied. Is it true? Are you going to? Is it unwise? Will you regret it? You shouldn't ask so much. And Edward allowed his hands to gently slide up her body, she complied, and cup her face in his hands. She leaned in to them, welcomed them, and her eyes fluttered slightly as he gazed in to her. Slowly, because he didn't want to surprise her, he rubbed his thumbs across her cheeks and pulled her to him, simultaneously leaning down closer to her. He noted that her fingers and found his front pocket of his white shirt and was pulling him closer by that means. She still smelled great, her cheeks an even deeper red in the splotches, her lips pink now, and Edward smiled as she closed her eyes and waited for him.

And then a red light shone from all around the small petite body, and Edward felt her warmth fade away from him, move away from his lips, ones that never met hers, and in the golden light of the sun, she disappeared.

* * *

><p>A whole 2000 words without dialog? Does this bother you?<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

_"Net stop...Central."_

Maria found herself being slammed against the door of the subway, gasping in a sudden breath and falling to her bum, surrounded not by Edward's arms but of the beige plastic material—vulgar inscriptions written upon the walls. Instead of the consistent rock of the trains of Central, Maria was on a smooth line once again, hearing the loud screeching sounds of the New York trains, smelling the fast food that she thought she missed. Taking in a deep and stressed breath after hitting the wall, Maria's body had been dragged down to a sitting position. There were other people on the train, but by custom New Yorkers don't tend to fuss over odd people on the transportation, and only glanced at her out of the corner of their eyes before staring out of the windows. Maria was in New York again.

In another world, far far away, it took Edward a couple moments longer to realize what had happened. Initially, he assumed that Maria had slipped out of his grasp at the last minute to avoid the kiss, and had mentally prepared himself to back out of the room with his tail between his legs, apologizing and cussing at himself. That was, of course, until he noticed that Maria was nowhere to be seen in the room, and certainly the small girl couldn't have wondered out of his sight that quickly.

He slowly let his arms drop to his sides, and Edward watched as the dust that had fluffed up in her dancing slowly settled to the ground; the last clue of her existence in his world. She was gone. But how?

Maria's train stopped at Central station and she slowly staggered to her feet to meet the open doors. Most people backed off of her, giving her space to grab on to the bars surrounding the doors and levy herself out of the train. She stumbled onto the platform and wavered slightly, glancing around her. It was New York alright. The smells, the hobos, everything was familiar.

"Miss." A guard said, upon seeing Maria, "Miss...Are you alright?"

"What year is it?" Maria whispered.

"2010." The guard said, "Do you need to go to the hospital?" But Maria shook her head and pushed past him, regaining some of the strength she had lost since her trip.

"Al!" Edward screamed into his brother's ear, causing the youth to shoot up and glare at his brother. "Al!" Edward continued, "She's gone!"

"Gone?" Alphonse said quietly, rubbing his eyes, "Gone to the station again?"

"No." Edward whispered, "She was transmuted away..." And slowly he leaned away from his brother and sat down on the ground, and he watched as Alphonse's feet appeared before him, cracking their toes in the morning air. Edward dragged his hand through his hair and breathed in, "She's really gone home..."

"But that's what you wanted, Brother." Alphonse said calmly, stretching his arms to his sides and bending them back, "You wanted her to go home. You saw her cry."

"Yeah but..." Edward whispered. But he couldn't finish his sentence. Alphonse was right. Maria and Edward both wanted to have her go home. Since her coming into his world, that was the one and soul goal of him and the military around him. Now he and Alphonse could go back to Rosembool and have dinner with Winry and the others finally. His life would be back to normal and he wouldn't have to come back to Central for the military. At least, not for a while.

Maria had hidden behind a corner in the train station and composed herself. She had to catch her breath and walk properly before venturing out into the public for the second time. "They must think I'm drunk or something..." Maria whispered, glancing out past the corner to look at the guard again.

She understood that she had been sent back to Earth. Sadly, she also understood that she was only wearing her dancing clothes, and everything else was back at Central. Or maybe it wasn't. With any luck, someone had put a date rape drug into her drink and she only had a very vivid and very scary dream.

"Well." Mustang said, glancing from the two boys in his office, it was the early afternoon now. Mustang had watched at Edward ran up to him when he ventured into his office and explained the whole thing, and then demanded that Mustang send out someone to search for her. "She's really gone. I've had the guards search Central. Not an ounce of evidence that she's still here."

"No. You won't find any either." Edward confirmed, "The Gate's taken her. Right out from under me, too. I should have seen it coming."

"But how?" Alphonse asked.

"I'm not sure...Why the Gate would take her now.."

"Maybe Truth felt it was time." Alphonse reassured, "Maybe Truth saw how sad she was here."

"And Truth didn't pay attention to me when I was on Earth!" Edward countered, "What about when I was miserable?" He glared at the two men before him. Plus, he thought, she didn't seem too miserable that morning.

"To be fair, Ed, you had a knack for pushing Truth to the limit." Mustang countered.

Walking out of Central Station and into the hard winter air of New York sent a shock of pain all through Maria's body. Her legs were telling her to go inside, her arms, bare thanks to her dancing clothes, shivered and pressed against her chest, and even her nose started running. It was only a couple of days after Christmas and everything was white and covered with the bright colors of the season, and there Maria was, shivering against the building of Grand Central, wondering which way she should go. If she went right, she'd go straight home and find her warm bed, and make that cacoon that she had been dying to make ever since she left home. However, if she went left, she could go to the old person's home where her grandmother stayed, and find some type of answer. Taking in a sharp and painful breath, coughing because of her throat becoming dry, Maria decided that she would go left.

She ran, as fast as she could, through the streets of New York. Avoiding hobos yelling at her clothes and policemen that could possibly stop her and question her motives. She ran past someone who called her name—Did she know that person? They could have given her a coat.—And found herself stumbling up the staircase into the home within minutes, a personal record. Running up to the counter, Maria said, "Could I visit Noah Heiderich please?"

"It's after visiting hours, Miss.."

"Please! She won't mind, I promise! It's an emergency!" Maria gagged out.

The woman behind the counter, a stout bitter little thing, looked Maria up and down, glancing at her red cheeks and red nose, and even her lips, which had become chapped from her running. "Well...She'll be taking her medicine soon...But alright...Please come with me."

Edward couldn't help it. As much as he wanted to, he needed to understand how the Gate worked. He skipped dinner and went straight into the dancing room to look around. Everything was how he left it that morning. Even the marks from their dancing were still in the wood, and the windows were all open. But something was wrong. Something didn't feel right. The fact that Maria was home and safe was great, but why that morning, of all times, for her to disappear? Why not while they were on the train? What was the Gate hiding from him?

"Ed." Came Mustang's voice, "You've been in this room at least three times today—that I've bothered to count—You need to eat."

"I will." Edward said gruffly, walking around in a circle in the middle of the room, "Once I understand..."

"Maybe you're not supposed to understand." Mustang offered, "You said it yourself that Maria coming here was a billion to one chance. Maybe that chance just came up again and sent her home."

But Edward shook his head. "No. It's too...Timely for that. Even my time on Earth lasted longer and that wasn't sporadic at all." He stopped walking and glanced around, "Something, or someone, has been orchestrating this whole thing..."

"That's impossible Ed. No one can control these types of transmutations."

"I could." Edward countered, looking up at his superior, "And when you put your mind to it enough, anyone can." And Mustang sighed before turning around. There was no use speaking to Edward when he was determined to find the answer to something. The best he could do was say something worth saying before Edward did something stupid. Mustang left the room, leaving Edward to watch the dust fall once again.

"Maria!" Said the old lady, sitting in her wheelchair happily, "So wonderful to see you!"

"Hello Gramma." Maria said, leaning down to kiss her grandmother's cheeks. "How are you?"

"I'm fine dear, but I've been worried about you." Noah said, "I've been told that you went missing for a while. Off to see some friends?"

I will pause here to explain Noah's features to you. Noah had grown to be a small and skinny old lady, with her hair completely white and pulled up into a high but loose bun at the top of her head. Her features, originally soft and warm, had become wrinkled and sagging, and when she smiled, all these wrinkles became deeper. But her eyes, which are known to Edward and Alphonse to be a deep chocolate brown, had become to have inklings of gray in them, and she was wearing glasses over them, shielding her eyes forever. At that moment, she was snuggled in a large pink dressing gown as a grandmother would be, and she moved slowly, calmly, like she knew the secrets of the world.

"Something like that." Maria answered. She sat down on her grandmother's bed and glanced at Noah. Noah had been confined in a wheelchair after breaking her hip during a fall a couple of years previous, and often spent her days wheeling around the home instead of lying in bed. Noah positioned her chair to face her granddaughter. Maria rubbed her shoulders in her chill and said, "I've had a weird week, grandma."

"I'd suppose so. Being missing and all."

"No. I wasn't missing." Maria countered, but she stopped, "Well...I kind of was. I was lost for a while."

"We're all lost for a little while."

"I went to this city." Maria said softly, and she leaned forward towards her grandmother, "I went to Central, grandma."

"Central?"

"Yes." Maria replied, pushing her arms together to ignite warmth, "Grandma...I saw Edward Elric."

"Edward Elric." Whispered Noah, "How interesting..."

"Yes." Maria said softly, "I was there for almost a week. I met Alphonse too. You were right—all your stories were true."

"I've never told a lie, dear." Noah said softly, wheeling herself closer to her granddaughter. "They were old though, weren't they?"

"No. That's just it!" Maria said, excited, "Edward was only 19. And Alphonse 18. They were young and they both had all their limbs!"

"You don't say." Noah said, but if you had any sense of human relations, you'd understand that Noah wasn't using it as an expression for surprise. In fact, Noah wasn't surprised at all.

"And I was with the military." Maria went on, "And I saw a woman trying to kill me. And a tunnel. And the food was awful. And the clothes, grandma, the clothes!" Maria went on.

"And then what?"

"And then..." Maria stopped, and she looked at her grandmother. Noah wasn't sitting at the edge of her wheelchair like Maria had expected her to. Instead she was leaning against the back of her chair, calmly smiling at her relation, knowing, all-knowing. But Maria said softly, "Grandma...Why aren't you more excited?"

"What do you mean, dear?" Noah asked.

"Well." Maria started, "I've just come back from an alternate universe that you've known of for years, and just said the same two people you knew when you were my age. You'd think you'd be a little bit more...surprised."

"Ed?"

"What?"

"What are you doing in Maria's room?"

To tell the truth, Edward was sitting on her bed and looking at her computer. He was going through the photos that he had seen a couple of days before. The contraption was a complicated one, but he learned that she had been working on an extensive application to a school called Julliard and a very long essay explaining her usefulness in dancing. However, before he could find out any more, the computer had died from its week of no power, and it was then that Alphonse walked in. "I'm just trying to understand." Edward whispered.

"You miss her." Alphonse said.

"I do not." Edward didn't look up from the dark screen.

"She's safe now, Ed."

Edward glanced up at his brother. His eyes had become a darker shade of gold since that morning, and there were bags forming above his cheeks. Softly, he said, "We have to figure this out, Al. We have to get to Earth."

"But why?—"

"Because..I don't know why!" Edward burst out, shooting up from the bed and grabbing his brother by the upper arms, "I don't know! Something..Something I can't explain..." And he bowed his head in defeat. Maybe it wasn't the pull of Maria that was giving him the incentive to go to Earth, maybe it was because for the first time, Edward couldn't solve a problem with his science and math.

Noah leaned close to Maria and took her granddaughters face in her hands, "You were scared, weren't you?" Noah went on, "You're scared now. Sad, even though you're home."

"Grandma..."

"Something happened in Central, didn't it?" Noah said, "You have strong feelings."

"You..." Maria whispered in between Noah's hands, "Edward said you were a fortune teller..."

"You didn't believe it. Why do you believe it now?"

"Grandma." Maria whispered, and tears started to leave her eyes. It had been hours since she left Edward, since she'd found herself in the middle of the train heading back to Central, but the weight of her whole experience just flooded to her heart for the first time. She had, for a week, been sent to a strange world and met strange people. These people, one of which constantly fought with her, had accepted her strange habits and songs into their lives. A military base, a young man who could do alchemy, his kind and gentle younger brother, and shopping with Hawkeye. The whole story, the whole time, and she didn't get to enjoy it one bit. She spent her entire week trying to get back home, but in reality, it was unfinished. Her tears started to collide with Noah's hands, and Maria said, "You knew...all along...You branded me on purpose..."

"Because I _knew_, Maria." Noah whispered.

"I...You...You put me through hell." Maria whimpered out, "I was away from home...I was in a strange country."

"For your own good."

"My Julliard audition." Maria sobbed out; her face becoming wet as it normally did when she cried; blotches formed and her nose got even redder, "I'm behind. My schooling. Mom. Christmas..."

"You'll thank me later, dear." Noah whispered out, "I promise."

"Tell me why..." Maria bit out, placing her hands on her grandmother's and holding them there.

Noah sighed and looked deep into the eyes of her estranged granddaughter's, "One night, while Edward was dreaming." Noah went on, "Back in Munich, I saw him with a young woman. Dancing in the morning sun. He had both his arms and he was only a couple of years older than when he was with Alfons and I." Maria started to shake her head, her eyes had gone wide and her mouth started to tremble, she sniffed loudly and her face became red. Denial, stress, fear, and wonder played across her features all at the same time. But Noah held on to her granddaughter, and she said, "The girl was wearing the same clothes you have on now, Maria."

"And then what happens?" Maria shouted, "What happens next?"

Noah's face became pale, and she looked down.

"I left!" Maria finished, "I left him! You branded me; you sent me all the way there to just be taken away! How could you do that? How could you interfere in my life like that? I had everything planned out before this. I only needed to worry about my dancing and everything would be alright. Now..." But Maria let go of her grandmother's hands and stood up, causing the old woman to have to steer backwards to avoid being hit. Maria, her face red still, glared down at her grandmother, "I'll never see him again and you've ruined my future. It was the only thing I had too."

"Maria, please.."

But Maria shook her head, "You've set my whole life up. You're the one who made my mother put me in dancing. You're the one who pressured me to get into Julliard. You're the one who sent me over. You've planned this from the beginning."

"And you've hated your life, then?" Noah shot back, causing her granddaughter to pause in her ramblings. Noah went on, "You've hated dancing? I've seen you dance, you love it!"

"That doesn't mean what you did is okay!"

"If you only knew what I know!"

"Then I would have let fate take its course!" Maria screamed, and the stout bitter woman could be heard shuffling outside, down the hallway, coming to investigate. "I'm leaving." She said.

"Before you go." And Maria stopped. One is never sure why, but when confronted by someone who one never wants to listen to, they always stop when asked. Maria waited, but didn't face her grandmother. Noah said softly, "You knew all along too. You believed me when I told you that you would meet your true love through dance." And after a moment of silence, Maria left.

* * *

><p>Another one of those chapters, but you need to know this. Sorry it took so long! (However, I'm actually not, because my computer is broken and I'm studying for my exams.<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

"Ed! Edward, come down! It's time for dinner!"

"Coming!"

But he actually wasn't. No man actually comes down when he yells out, 'Coming!' So Edward smiled down at Winry before going back to hammering the roof. She had complained about her roof leaking for the past couple of weeks, especially since the rain had started a month ago, so Edward found it about time to go up and fix it. Alphonse had suggested he just transmute the material on Winry's roof to cover the holes, but Edward disagreed. Winry's roof was made by hand by her father, and just transmuting all that hard work away wasn't right. So when he and Alphonse finally came back home from Central, over three months previous, Edward promised Winry he'd fix it by hand.

"Edward!"

"What?" Edward's muffled yell came from the top of the roof, caused by nails that he was biting with his teeth to keep track of them. "Let me finish this row!"

Upon Maria's return to Earth, Edward and Alphonse were strongly advised by Mustang to head back to Rosembool and continue their normal lives. Alphonse was prepared to go back to his home, to be with his friends and to relax. "Edward, she's back home. Everything's alright now!" He would say to his reluctant brother, and eventually, Edward agreed—to Al's face, that is.

In reality, Edward felt uneasy about Maria. No matter how much Alphonse insisted that that she was alright, Edward had a feeling deep in his gut that it was false. Something, somewhere, whether it be in her time or his, was amiss, and he needed to find out what it was.

So every night when he was sure Alphonse and Winry was asleep, Edward would sneak out of his room and go outside. In the shed where he kept all his tools for fixing up Winry's house, he had also kept books from the Central library. The journal he used to calculate everything he had for Maria was full and he had gone on to a new on already, using dates and physics to understand not only Maria's timely departure but also find a way to get to Earth himself.

Of course, he would never mention this to Alphonse, who for all he knew was spending so much time in the shed trying to learn how to use normal tools for fixing the roof. Edward knew that Alphonse and Winry would never approve of him actually trying to get to Earth. Sure, Edward had expressed his desire to go to Earth to Alphonse, but he knew his little brother only brushed it off as an emotional outburst and certainly not something to be perusing.

Edward and Alphonse Elric both had their bodies back to normal, the way they were born to be, and they were able to spend the rest of their lives peacefully enjoying their company and growing old. They didn't need to be in the military any longer, Edward didn't need to be a State Alchemist or a military dog for Mustang any longer either. Winry and her grandmother were safe, his father, whom he sometimes would admit to missing, was dead, as he should have been over 400 years ago, and the memory of his mother was simply cherished, and not something he grimaced upon. Life, his life, his brother's life, was finally tranquil.

It's too bad, Edward thought one night while drawing up a new transmutation circle, he didn't mesh well with _tranquillity._

Alchemy was a science, and Edward knew that. A science that involved using the natural energy of the earth and using it to deconstruct and then reconstruct matter. In order to do this, the practitioner needs to have a broad knowledge of chemistry first and foremost, physics, and mathematics. This practitioner must also have a high value of laws and human life, and in the end, must have the natural talent. The practitioners in our story are Edward and Alphonse; and we call them alchemists. Edward also knew that in order to do alchemy, a transmutation circle was necessary. There was the basic transmutation circle, the human transmutation circle, and even circles designed specifically for one type of alchemy, like the circle on Mustang's glove. It's these customized and detailed circles that Edward had become fascinated with during his three months of working in the shed. In the end, there was a transmutation circle for everything. So why wasn't there one for travelling between worlds?

The transmutation circle is split up into three parts. There is the circle itself, which indicates the cycle of which matter is changed and how energy flows. Then there are the symbols. The symbols for the elements: water, earth, fire, and so forth, and the symbols for the planets and metals: Mercury, gold, silver, and each metal representing something of the human being. Silver represents the mind and unconsciousness, gold is vitality, and copper was like Maria; beauty and affection.

Edward's theory was so simple that even your author, a linguistic person, could follow it. It goes as follows: Edward would draw a human transmutation circle using all seven metals and the elements of the earth. He would then, however, draw a straight line down the middle of the circle, starting a few inches above where the circle normally started and ending a few inches at the bottom, cutting the entire circle in half. The goal was for Edward to transmute, or deconstruct himself and jump onto the energy flow that is represented in the outer circle that we spoke of before. The line in the middle of the circle would be used for Edward to cross over, jumping from one energy cycle of Amestris, to the energy cycle of Earth, and then reconstruct himself on the other side, riding along the full cycle.

"How's my roof coming along, Ed?" Winry asked at dinner.

"Good, yeah." Edward said absently. "Should be done by tomorrow." And tomorrow night, he'd try to get back to Earth.

"Why is it taking so long, Brother?" Alphonse asked, "Are normal tools that hard to understand?"

Edward swirled his mashed potatoes around and looked at Alphonse through his bangs, wanting to shout at his little brother for insulting him, but he didn't—he'd give himself away if he did that. So he softly said, "Yeah. A little difficult."

"Like trying to get to another world or something." Winry said calmly as she got up from the table to put Edward and Alphonse's plates in the sink.

Edward froze where he was sitting and watched as Winry started to wash the dishes. She didn't know. Of course she didn't know. If she knew, she would have confronted him instantly. Obviously, because Winry was a confrontational person. If there was something being kept from her, of all things, she'd find out, and by force if need be. No, as Winry started to hum to herself happily and chat with her grandmother, Edward was assured that Winry had no clue.

But Alphonse did. Because when Edward let out a sigh of relief and leaned back against the chair to speak to Alphonse, he didn't get the chance, for Alphonse was watching in intently, eyes narrow, eyes hard, and deliberate, like he knew something. "Yeah." Alphonse bit out, "Like going to another world."

"Al."

"It's always hard to go to another world, isn't it, Brother?"

"Alphonse."

"I mean, being placed in a weird world with people you don't know is hard enough." Alphonse said sarcastically, "But trying to get to another world by your own means, well, that's like playing God all over again, isn't it, Edward?"

"Alphonse Elric." Edward warned.

"Al?" Came Winry's voice, "What are you getting at?"

"Nothing!" Edward said before his little brother could possibly ruin his plans, "Alphonse is just...having girl problems and he's blaming me for them." He leaned over to his brother and slapped him on the back in a brotherly way, a little harder than he normally would, and said, "We're just going to have a little man-chat outside. Don't hold on dessert!" And with one swift movement, Edward grabbed his younger brother by the scruff of his neck and dragged him outside.

"What are you doing!" Alphonse hissed out once they got behind the shed. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Now listen, Al, I've figured out a way."

"To get yourself killed."

"Well yes, I always figure _that_ out." Edward muttered, "I always mess up on those, though. I must be lucky."

"I'm not letting you go through with it." Alphonse said sternly, "I don't care what it is. You're not going to try to get back to Maria."

"Like you could stop me." Edward countered.

"I couldn't, but Winry can."

"Look. Al." Edward said, placing his hands on his brother's shoulders and looking into the stern and hard face of his relation, looking so much like their mother at the moment when she was being stern, "I miss her." Edward finally said, softly of course, so as not to startle Alphonse. "I miss her and I have a bad feeling about how she's doing. It's my duty to make sure she's alright."

"Your duty is to be here, to be safe, to be a brother!"

"She was placed in my jurisdiction!"

"And taken out of your jurisdiction three months ago!"

"Just because she's not my legal responsibility any longer doesn't mean she's not my moral responsibility!"

"If you go, I'll never forgive you." Alphonse spat out.

Edward watched Alphonse's eyes alight with fire. Never, in all their years of being brothers, had his youth said something so certain, so stern, so unbelievably strong. Alphonse always backed down from Edward in arguments, he always did as he was told, he always thought that whatever Edward was doing, whether for the good or for the bad, was right, and that it'd all turn out. Even in moments like trying to bring their mother back, when Alphonse was certain that it wouldn't end well, he heeded to Edward's plans. But never, in his young life, had Alphonse purposefully threatened to disown Edward.

Edward smiled sadly at his brother, "Listen to you. Talking like an adult..."

"I _am_ an adult."

"You're my younger brother."

"You're being irresponsible."

Edward watched him. His facial expression didn't waver. "If being irresponsible to you means being responsible for mankind, then maybe it's worth it."

"Brother, in case you haven't forgotten." Alphonse snarled out, which as the first time Edward really saw Alphonse do so, "We spent seven years trying to stay together, trying to get what we have now."

"Alphonse, I'm sorry, but it seems this is bigger than us. It's always been bigger than just you and me." And he let his brother go. "I'm leaving tonight."

"I won't let you!"

"Yes you will." Edward said softly, "And I'm sorry." Edward then clapped his hands together before Alphonse could find time to react, and he slapped the ground. A waved of stone surrounded Alphonse's body, forcing him to be locked up on the spot, unable to use his hands. The wave of stone carried itself up to his mouth, covering it, and the only sound coming from Alphonse was the whimpers of anger and betrayal. Edward approached his younger brother and looked sadly down at him, "You'll never be able to hold me back, Alphonse, you know that. I'll see you in a few weeks." And he leaned down to kiss his brother on the forehead, before turning and running to the shed.

Edward had prepared a bag of clothes and kept them in the shed when he started planning his escape. All he had to do now was draw the transmutation circle and hope for the best. Sadly, he knew how too. Maria had had an open wound while being transmuted to the other side, and even two years ago, Edward had let some of his blood fall off his cheek to transmute himself. He needed to use his blood. So he pulled a blade out, glanced outside the door to see Alphonse still struggling, and gently he cut his finger. He then drew the circle, his last stroke being the line that crossed down the middle, interrupting the flow. With a deep breath and another pitiful glance at Alphonse, Edward clapped his hands and slammed his palms onto the circle, causing the whole shed to ignite in blue.

Edward found himself in the middle of a white expanse, and he felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. That's right, the Gate.

"Edward Elric." Said the voice, a voice that had spoken to him a million times before, though he never knew it. A voice that seemed to be fond of saying his name. "What a surprise to see you here."

"I've done it again, haven't I?" Edward mumbled.

"No, you haven't." Said Truth, "You won't be losing any limbs today." There was a pause, and Edward watched as large doors started to form before him. Unlike the normal doors that he had become used to during his years of alchemy, these were smooth, new, shiny, and beautiful. Instead of being hard heavy stone or looking like trees, the doors were actually mirrors, and Edward found himself looking at himself. The doors were also very small; large enough for maybe Mustang to walk through by certainly not Armstrong, and the doors were closed. Truth went on, "It's come to my attention to with to go back to Earth."

"Yes."

"No alchemist has ever been successful." Truth pointed out, "Bad things happen when you people cross my Gate."

"I know."

"However." Said Truth, causing Edward to look up once again from his vision to the ground, and look at himself in the mirror. Was that really him? That old, tired, man staring back at him? With that bag over his shoulder and wearing what he was wearing? His white shirt, pushed up past his elbows, and those brown pants, along with his brown trench coat. And those eyes, mimicking the look that Alphonse gave him only a few moments ago, or possibly hours ago, he could never tell when he was in the Gate. Edward perked his ear at Truth's voice, "I'm going to let you pass unharmed."

"..Why?"

"Because you have a responsibility, Edward." Truth chuckled. "And I'm willing to take you up on an even bigger responsibility."

"Which is what?" Edward whispered out.

"You don't need to know that at the moment." Truth finished, and the doors of the mirror gates slowly started to open. There were no critters of the shadows to be seen, no little gremlins giggling at him and reaching for his limbs, only darkness, pure, black, long and hard darkness. Edward started to take a step forward, and found himself walking through it, through the darkness, following what he didn't know, but knew that he was going the right way. From somewhere above him, he heard Truth say, "I have a new word for you."

"A new word?" Whispered Edward, as he approached a yellow light in front of him, "What word?"

Edward walked all the way until the light became too bright for him to not shield his eyes, so he did so, and when the darkness started to disappear behind him, he heard Truth chuckle out, "_Equilibrium_, Edward."

* * *

><p>Well, now that we've got that over with, we can continue on to Edward and Maria's reunion. Also, I again used some type of logic on this chapter, and if you actually did the research, you'll find that I'm most likely incorrect, just like I could be with my math. But, you know, for the sake of the story, let's go with it. Reviews are loved and cherished and thanks for reading!<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

"The next train will arrive at Central!" The guard yelled, "Please board the train for Central! That's alright, ma'am, it'll be about two minutes. Hello Mac."

"Steve."

"How's the wife goin'?" Mac said, "She pop yet?"

"Just about." The other guard smiled, "It'll be a month yet, the doctor said. Which train is next?"

"493."

"That's the one with the haunted carriage."

"What? Haunted? A carriage can't be haunted!"

"Sure can. A bunch of people said a girl went missing after going on that carriage. Around Christmas. Then, a week later, she just shows up again! In the same carriage!" Mac stared at his coworker, becoming annoyed by his amused look, "I'm telling' ya, Steve! It's haunted!"

"A carriage can't be haunted." Steve chuckled.

As luck, or fate, or even God or Truth would have it, Edward was passing through the Gate in that very carriage. Appearing as Maria did three months before, Edward landed silently and slammed his bag on the floor of the carriage. There was no one in it, however, and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned for a while. But Edward noted the plastic, the signs and graffiti along the wall and the etching on the plastic windows. "This must be a New York train…" Edward whispered to himself, and he sadly noted the smell. 

The train was still in movement, and Edward took this opportunity to move around himself and oberve his surroundings. Train 493 was exactly how Maria had explained it would be back at Central when Mustang initially interviewed her; the only difference now was that while Maria was on the train, she mentioned people watching her be pulled back into the windows and through the Gate. But tonight, Edward noted that there were no people, and most of all, the train looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months. Dust was all over the seats and windows, and the garbage that was still in the corner had become a pile of white mold than anything Edward could possibly decifer, and it was that that was causing the smell. Most of the metal was foggy and had handprints all over it, and the graffiti was running off due to time and not because of another gang marking their territory. Whatever the cause, no one had seen this carriage for some time. "Now." Edward said softly, and he spun around and looked at the walls, "It should be around here somewhere…"

It took him a few moments but he found it nevertheless. On the wall just under the window of the doors was the same transmutation circle that he made the night before, with the line through it already, only as a part of the etching and not in blood. Amoung all the graffiti and markings done by teenagers and the like, the circle blended in well. In the middle of a New York train, amongst the notes of others, it was the perfect place to hide such a circle. Not only that… "So someone here knows how to make my transmutation circle…"

"Excuse me! Sir?" The train had stopped, and Edward didn't notice.

Edward turned around to see Mac standing before him, his arm on the door. The elderly guard, with his bushy mustache and gray crew cut hair grunted in amusement, "You shouldn't be in here, boy. This here's carriage is haunted."

"Haunted?" Edward echoed, and he looked down at the transmutation circle. "Yes, I suppose you guys would think that."

"Any particular place you're trying to get to?"

Edward glanced up from the circle and smiled at Mac, "Could you tell me how to get to Julliard?"

Mac, confused by Edward's murmer, said, "Sure, boy. I'll show you a map."

Mac was a nice fellow, Edward thought, as he left the station and appeared on the street. The only thing now was to follow Mac's directions to the school. The other problem, Edward realized, was the fact that he was in the middle of New York, far larger than Central could ever be, with more technology than Edward had ever seen before. Televisions everywhere, flat screens even, lights coming off the buildings, people with technology coming out of their ears and things attached to their heads, people talking through devices, the smallest phones Edward had ever seen before, and so many things telling him to buy something. It was all so very overwhelming. "And this is what they used science for." Edward whispered as he turned his body around to watch the buildings inch away from him, and he realized that he was getting a headache.

Night had already fallen upon New York and Edward had to push past people, avoiding eye contact, for he also noticed that the fashion must have changed since the 1930's. He could have thought of that-Maria's clothes were always weird. But he didn't realize how futuristic and colorful clothes could be. Granted, he had seen many weird people back home, but he had never seen a pair of pants that tight on a man before.

He soon found himself at Julliard, standing in front of the massive building that was sharply jetting out on one corner. It was impressive, Edward would give them that. It was no wonder that Maria was trying to hard to get in-the building itself showed more prominence than the Central Command building, looking already more high-tech than anything he'd seen, and even with alchemy, he was sure he'd have trouble designing such a building. They had money, that was obvious. They were a favorite school and one of the best, this was also obvious. They also had no security guards and enough windows that he could easily transmute.

So Edward approached one of the windows and clapped his hands, then placed them on the glass. It easily melted away and he was able to walk through, turn around, clap his hands, and restore the glass. "So. Alchemy is possible in this time." He mused to himself, getting into the bottom floor of the school, and he looked at a large shelf of trophies, most likely from competitions and awards given to the school. Soon, Edward thought, Maria would be a part of those trophies, doing something to bring glory to her peers, to represent the people who made her what she is, and he understood why dancing was so important. And he would tell her, once he found her.

The corridors let in enough blue light for Edward to comfortably navigate his way through the halls, though he had to be careful as not to attract attention from someone outside. Watching a man in a brown trench coat with a full duffle bag lurking through a building that is supposed to be closed is bad luck in any era or universe.

It was deathly quiet, there was no movement, though he knew that there would be a lot in the morning. A bustling school, cleaned everyday so that the floor Edward was walking upon was even shiny. Everywhere there was a portrait or a trophy or a plaque, igniting the surroundings in gold or silver light, showing Edward the way.

Getting to the office, and getting inside by transmuting the glass, wasn't hard at all. However, Edward didn't realize that Julliard tended to 800 students and got over 2,000 applicants a year, and since Edward wasn't sure if she got in or not, he had 3,000 files to shift through. And he thanked Julliard for applying alphabetical organization, because he found Maria's file after about half an hour.

**_Maria Heiderich - Applicant  
><em>**17 years old

Steverston High School

"Seems normal." Edward whispered, and he started to copy down the address and phone number that she gave on the application. "She'll be easy to find this way."

It was until he got to the bottom of the application that he saw, in a large red stamp, the word "DENIED."

Maria lived across the way of New York, almost on the other side of where the school was located, and it took Edward two full hours to get even close to her address. All the way he was fascinated by New York but couldn't help scowling at himself by the headache that was forming. The crazies, the music, the clubs, everything was so…exciting for him, however all the stimuli around him was causing his eyes and ears to become panicked, how could anyone live in all this?. All these new ways to form and shape the elements, Edward's fingers were just itching to transmute anything and everything, especially the neon lights that he kept seeing, but he kept his hands in his pockets and followed the streets.

Maria also lived in an apartment just a couple of streets away from a club district, and Edward made sure to keep to the back alleys instead of wondering near the entrances where most of the people were. Coughing because of the smoke, Edward wondered closer to Maria's streets and stopped abruptly when he heard a familiar voice. There was laughter and a girl's voice said, "Come on, then, let's go back inside." And when Edward glanced around the corner, he saw the familiar petite body of Maria retreat back into the building.

"Maria!" Edward said, but the door closed too fast for him to get her attention. Quickly, he ran to the door and attempted to open it; it was locked. Clapping his hands together, Edward made a hole in the door and creeped in. The hallways before him were dark and daggy, smelling of smoke and other chemicals that Edward hadn't even heard of but I assure you, you have. There was loud music and talking and laughing all the way down the corridor, and Edward, closing the hole in the door quickly, turned around and started to go down the hallway. Most of the people glanced at him nervously and went back to what they were doing, which consisted of making out and smoking. "Why in God's name is Maria here…?" He whispered to himself.

The main hall room for the club was large and loud, bright with the lights that Edward had seen outside, and packed with people up to the rim of the building. The people were wearing the same clothes that they in the street, only in heels, and he often saw people wearing glowing clothes. Scrunching his nose and pressing his forefinger and this thumb across the bridge of that nose, Edward looked around the room for Maria. She wouldn't be too hard to find; she was wearing red when he caught a glance at her.

She was in the middle of the dance floor with her friends, standing in a circle, dancing. Edward stopped and seemed to have forgotten that he was in the middle of a public place. Her body hadn't changed much at all, but her clothes sure had. The dress she was wearing was, to say the least, worse than Lust's dress. She looked beautiful and he felt his cheeks heat up at how her body was moving; she hadn't lost her dancing touch. But snapping out of it, Edward yelled, "Maria!"

Jumping, the girl turned around. There she was, looking him in the eyes once again, like he had dreamed of for the past three months. Her lips were red like her dress but he watched at her cheeks became red also, and her eyes widened in shock. "…Edward…?"

"What are you wearing?" Edward scolded loudly, and the girls around Maria, who were also wearing similar dresses, snickered. Taking off his trench coat, Edward strode up to her and wrapped her in it. "What would your grandmother say if she saw that?"

"..What?" Was all Maria could muster out of her mouth.

"Maria, who is this?" One of the girls said, wearing a dress surprisingly shorter than Maria's.

"This is.." Maria whispered, and she stopped to glance up at Edward. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for you." Edward mumbled, "What are you doing _here_? We're leaving." And he grabbed Maria by the upper arm and started to lead her away. Edward was happy to see that she followed him out of the club without arguing, though, he had to admit, it was odd.

They found themselves out on the street in front of the club the next moment, it had become colder and Edward was glad he gave her his coat. The people around them glanced at them suspiciously and he thought he heard a couple of the men cheer him on for something that was inappropriate, but ignoring them, he pulled Maria around the back of the alley where he first saw her. Placing her so that she was against the wall, Edward turned around and clapped his hands, erecting a wall that separated them from the rest of the world, and conveniently drowned out the sounds of New York. Finished, he turned around and said, "Of all places to find you! You were in there? How could you be so irresponsible! I've been in my fair share of pubs back home, but that building was ridiculous. Don't you know you could get hurt in there?"

Edward had his hands on his hips and was leaning towards her threateningly, eyes narrowed, like a mother of some sort. Maria in turn had her arms folded and was leaning against the wall, looking down at the ground instead of at him. Her lips were tight and her cheeks were pink, out of embarrassment of being scolded than actual affection.

"Well?" Edward insisted.

"Where were you?" Maria asked, and Edward had a feeling she was talking about something other than the club.

"What?"

"For the past three months." Maria said softly, but her voice became stronger in the next moment, "Where have you been?"

"I've been in Rosembool!" Edward countered, "Trying to get here!"

"So it took you a week to get me home and it took you three months to come back?" Maria said sharply.

"Now listen! I didn't mean to send you home! If it had been up to me, you would have gotten here just today!"

"And what have you been doing for those three months, Edward! Going home to relax?"

"Now that's just the opposite!"

Maria glared at him and turned away, intending to leave the alley, but Edward's wall was in the way. Huffing loudly, but she didn't turn away, she only stomped her foot.

"Listen." Edward said softly, "You have to understand. Moving from my world into this one can be tricky. I need God's permission before I do it, and sometimes I have to pay a fee…The fact that I'm still using my real limbs is astounding." He stared at her, and her shoulders were still stiff. He sighed, "I've been trying to get back here…The entire time, I was trying."

Maria didn't turn around to speak to him, she only stared at the wall, "Could you put the wall down?"

Edward watched as her arms sank, and he quietly said, "Sure." Before approaching her. He clapped his hands and reached around her, entrapping her in between her arms, and laid his hands on the wall. The thing went down like water and after a moment of frozen silence between the two, in which Edward would hope she'd turn around and face him, she didn't, and he let his arms drop. He said softly, "Do you mind if we get some food? I'm starving…Crossing worlds takes a lot of energy."

"Sure." Maria whispered, "Follow me."

Edward walked along side her silently, his bag thrown over his shoulder and his hand stuffed in his pocked, leaned back, watching the lights of the city. Maria was wrapped up in his coat, walking slowly. "Hey." Edward said, "Come on. Lighten up. I got here eventually, didn't I?"

"I didn't expect you to come at all." Maria said, "I hoped you didn't." She glanced up at the McDonald's they were in front of and started to head to the door.

Edward stopped walking and glared at her, "You hoped that wouldn't? What was the whole point of me coming then! You could have let me know back at Central that you never wanted to see me again! I could have saved three months of my life!"

Maria turned around, her hands on her hips now, and she said, "You came back for me! That means grandma was right!"

"Wha-?" Edward said, "Grandma? You mean Noah? What did she say?"

Maria stared at him, "You mean she didn't tell you?"

"I never let her tell me her fortunes, if that's what you mean."

Maria, who had been pushing a rock with her shoe glanced up sharply, "You mean…You don't know that you and I…?"

"You and I what?"

"We should get some food." Maria said, and she turned around to head into McDonald's.

"Hey! Wait!" Edward yelled, "You and I what?"

But Maria never answered, and instead convinced him to find something on the menu to order instead of worrying about 'Noah's crazy predictions.' And though, while sitting down at a table and opening up the wrapper, Edward could still sense that something was on her mind. But like every other time this happened, he would find out soon enough. For now, he just wanted something in his stomach.

"Well. This isn't food."

"What are you talking about? It's just fast food."

"What does fast food mean? Does it mean they've dipped it in acid?"

"Oil." Maria corrected.

"How can you live off this stuff?" Edward whined, and he pressed his head against the cold top of the table, his stomach already disagreeing with him.

"So what do you think of New York?" Maria started, "Do you like it?"

"Not really. I have a headache, and now a stomach ache from it." He said softly, "I'm not sure I'll live through this trip."

"Trip? You plan to go back?"

Edward lifted his head, "Of course. My home is in Rosembool. It took a couple of years for me to admit it, but it'll always be my home. My roots. My future. Like how New York is to you."

"You'll leave again."

"I can come back any time."

"I can't be the only reason why you came." Maria insisted, "There was another reason."

"There is." Edward confirmed, and he ignored his stomach long enough to lean back on his chair and cross a leg over the other, watching Maria, "While passing through the Gate, God told me a new word. He said…equilibrium."

"So?"

"Well it's the same as Equivalent Exchange, but also different." Edward mused, "While Equivalent Exchange focuses on giving what you're receiving, Equilibrium implies that nothing is given or taken, but that everything is kept in balance."

"He probably meant about you coming to New York. That it was making our worlds imbalanced."

"If that was the case, he wouldn't have let me cross." Edward said, "No. There's something else about our worlds. Something much bigger than you and me."

Maria got up from where she was sitting, and she smiled, which caused alarm in Edward but he smiled back, and she said, "Where are you staying?"

"I'm not sure. I brought some camping stuff. In case I needed too…"

"You'll have to travel for hours to find a forest around here." Maria said, "You can stay with my family. You'll get to meet my mother."

"Noah's daughter." Edward said. The illegitimate child of Noah and Alfons. If Maria looked the way she did, crossed between the two, Edward could only imagine how much Maria's mother looked like the two of them.

"Come on, then." Maria said.

Maria's apartment, only a couple of streets away from the McDonald's that they were just at, was not impressive in the least. First, Edward and Maria had to climb three stories to get to her floor because of her elevator being broken-which it had been for nearly three years now. The walls of the hallways alone were a dark sea green with stains in the corners from people smoking too much, despite the NO SMOKING signs on almost every door. When Maria got to her own door, Apartment 12, he noticed that the twelve was tipped to the right and broken at the screw. She opened the door and let him in, and her apartment was nearly as bad as the hallways. The walls were a dingy blue color and were stained in the same way the hallways were, the couches, overstuffed over the years, were brown, lined with yellow thread through them, and none of the furniture matched. The kitchen was bare, with hardly any appliances or food, particularly fruit, for that matter. Edward had seen bad conditions before, this wasn't as nearly as bad as what he'd seen during his years in the military, but still, he expected something a bit more clean cut.

Maria walked straight to her room and he followed obediently, refusing to place his bag on the floor.

Her room didn't show the walls, there was instead semi-transparent fabric covering them to make it look like a tent more than an actual room. It smelled sweeter, smelled just like Maria, and when she turned the lights on, it wasn't a single light on the top of the ceiling, but a bunch of golden Christmas lights behind the fabric. She had a desk and a shelf, covered in pink and orange things, and a bed in the corner, covered in blankets and stuffed animals, unmade, just like her bed in Central. The carpet, normally a pale grey color through the apartment, was instead covered by a large rug. It didn't even look like the room was part of the apartment.

"Where's your mother?" Edward asked.

"She's working."

Maria opened her window and sat down on the bed, patting it to invite him. He sat down across from her, "Working this late? It's nearly three in the morning. What does she do?"

"She's…" Maria started softly, and she got up to got to her closet and pull out some extra blankets, "She's a dancer too."

"Wow." Edward mumbled, looking out into the night sky, only, like Armstrong once said during Edward's first adventures with him, the city never really could give the night sky justice. Edward supposed, it was the same here as well. "You dancers are sure dedicated."

Maria nodded and handed Edward the pile of blankets. She told him that he would sleep on her floor, mainly because her mother was due to be back around six in the morning, and Maria didn't want to have her be surprised.

So overall, Edward had to admit that his reunion with Maria was a disappointment. He watched her slowly fall asleep on her bed, which was purple, and she slept like a doe. Her hand swung over the side and for a while Edward watched as the tips of her fingers twitched along with the dream she was having. And Edward had to wonder. Why Equilibrium? What was that thing, that think that God had in mind for him? And what had Noah told Maria three months ago? Maria was more of an enigma than anything in his life, he had come to that conclusion during their dance. But he feared he would never actually figure her out. This girl beside him, breathing softly, in her own little world, with no worries other than dancing. If only she had fed him something other than McDonald's.

But he couldn't hold that against her. Getting up to his knees, Edward looked down at Maria. During this reunion, her face was hard and worried and creased, like she had aged in her worry. Even up to the last minute of conversation with him, she had looked like she was keeping a deep secret from Edward. However, at the moment, her face was relaxed, the color in her cheeks was not induced but natural, and when Edward pushed some of her hair behind her ears and kissed her cheek, those rosy red lips turned upwards into a smile, and she reached out to stroke his cheek before letting her hand go limp once more. Sighing, Edward retreated back to the floor, made himself a cocoon out of the blankets like Maria had once explained, and drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>I feel in general this is going too slow, so I'm going to speed it up a bit in the next couple of chapters. I'm so used to reading authors like Hugo who take forever in doing anything. lol Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing. :3<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

"You go ahead to school. I'll go visit your grandmother."

"Right. Here's the address."

And Edward bid Maria farewell while she went off to school. The morning had been a quiet one and Maria's mother still wasn't home. Edward became worried at how unfazed she was about this fact, but he didn't have time for it. Maria got dressed into her casual clothes for school and escorted him all the way until they would split paths; he was about three streets away from the old person's home when he said goodbye. She instructed him to either be home by three in the afternoon or if he so chose to, be at school at 2:50 to pick her up.

Edward walked along New York and realized how much lighter the city became during the day, it was completely opposite than what he saw the night before. More people, less lights, and less of a headache. It didn't take him long to find the home either, it being a large white building with the name written in silver lettering above the door. Walking in, Edward saw the same bitter woman that Maria saw three months ago and smiled politely, "Uh, Hi, I'm here to visit Noah Heiderich. I'm her grandson."

"Very well." The woman said, and she led him to Noah's room.

Walking into the room of an elderly woman whom one hadn't seen for a couple years was stressful for Edward, only, he could only imagine how Noah was feeling, watching a young man whom she hadn't seen for over 80 years walk in. But when she glanced up from her book and saw him, she only smiled calmly and said, "Hello Edward."

"Noah." Edward said awkwardly, and he glanced around himself and said, "Sorry. I said I was your grandson so I could be allowed in."

"That's alright. It won't make a difference in the end."

Edward properly walked into the room and sat down on her bed, for she was known to sit in her wheelchair for most of the day. Edward sighed and said, "So. You've aged…a lot."

"Yes." Noah said, "I'm 94 now."

"Right. How have you been? After Al and I left."

"I've been well. I lived a full life, raised a child, moved to America."

"Alfons' child." Edward said sternly. "You didn't tell me you and Alfons were…Together."

"That would complicate things. It wasn't foretold for me to tell you. You were to find out through Maria."

"How can you live your live through these fortunes of yours?" Edward said, "Every choice you make-"

"Is already decided by fate. I only know how to make the correct choices." Noah countered, and Edward felt that no matter how much he argued with her, he wouldn't get through.

"So then." Edward carried on, "I met your granddaughter."

"Yes. What do you think of her?"

"She's nice. When she wants to be."

"Yes, I can see this."

But Edward had had enough of talking about that, he wanted to know something else. Pulling out his book and flipping to the last page of which the transmutation circle was on, he showed it to her, "Does this look familiar to you?"

Noah looked at the paper, and though she was old and wrinkled, Edward distinctly saw the guilt on her face, the same guilt she had when she gave him away to the Thule Society and when she tried so hard to get to his world. Slowly, he said, "You're the one who put it on the wall of the train."

"It was in my fortune."

"Forget your fortune!" Edward yelled, standing up, "Do you realize you've shaped your granddaughter's entire life!" The book was forgotten now and Edward had his hands on his hips, staring down at her, stern, like he normally was with Maria. It was so interesting how Noah and Maria made the same face when they were caught doing something bad.

"For her own good!" Noah countered, "Please! Listen to me! Maria wouldn't but you should. You're wise, Edward. Listen to me."

Edward sighed and gave her a dirty look, but sat down anyway and waited for her to explain. "Alright." He said, "Explain."

Noah smiled at Edward, "I've known, since the first night I stayed with you and Alfons, that you would be coming back to my world in 2010." Noah said, "It was hard to keep it from you. And I knew you would find a way to get here willingly through alchemy. And that God would let you."

"And you didn't tell me because I couldn't use my alchemy at that point." Edward finished.

"But that's not important." Noah said softly, smiling at Edward.

"What are you talking about? That's the most important thing." He picked up the book again and started to flip through the pages, "It's important because I've found a loophole in our world. It's so close to human transmutation it's scary. I felt the same way going through the Gate that I did when I was trying to bring my mother back, yet God doesn't feel that it's trespassing. He feels it as…passing by." Edward took out a pen and noted that down, buried deep within the pages, he mumbled, "Someone could easily come from my world into this one for better technology, medicine, even music. It's just that this time moves so quickly…They'd have to come periodically to see what was happening…"

Noah reached over and placed her hand upon his, smiling, "You have strong feelings, Edward."

"About my discovery."

"About my granddaughter."

Edward glared at her from over the brim of his book, "I'm trying to explain my theory to you."

Noah sighed and leaned back on her chair, relaxing once again, her eyes narrow, "I've been waiting for over 80 years until you came back from your world. And all you care about, still, is your science. You've never cared about the feelings of the people around you."

Edward was back to his reading, jotting things down, and when she was finished he said, "I care about feelings."

"What about when I wanted to go to your world? Did you care then?"

"I couldn't let you." Edward said, making eye contact with her once again, "That would cause an entire imbalance in our worlds. A woman from another world trying to fit into ours, that's a laugh. And what would I tell the military? And your accent. How could you possibly get away with that accent? You would have been found out immediately. I have to protect that world."

"You've protected this world. With getting ride of the atom bomb."

"To me, my world is more important." Edward insisted.

"And Maria?"

"Why are you so intent on Maria?" Edward asked, placing his book on his lap and watching her closely. "You fortune teller. Tell me what you know about Maria and I."

"I can't."

Edward glared at her again, his jaw was sharp. Noah, in her mind, had never seen his face so hard before. She hadn't seen Edward for years, but the imprint of his innocent and round face was always in her mind. He was, and Alfons was, the most important men in her life. They had saved her from the Thule Society, saved her from a life of imprisonment, and even saved the world-if only for a little while. She loved Edward like a brother, a savior, this mystical and magical being that could make dreams come true with his robust and fiery life. And here he was now, finally, having aged so much. The wisdom of his years of life had etched itself upon his face, around his eyes so that they were harder and sharper; stood out more against his tan skin. Even his chin was sharp, with little bristles of facial hair because whenever Edward was around Maria, he seemed to always forget about shaving. This old man, in a young handsome body. How could she lie to him?

"I foresee a future for you and my Maria." Noah explained, "Together."

Edward's cheeks flushed slightly but he tried to keep his stern composure, "Future?"

"In the past, technically." Noah stated, "In your world."

"That's impossible. She would never come stay with me in Amestris. She has her dancing."

"Had." Noah corrected.

Edward was struck. His mouth hung open and he glared at Noah, watching her intently. Did she know what he saw the night before? She couldn't have. Could she?

"You'll treat her well, won't you?" Noah asked. "You'll cherish her? Give her a future?" She leaned close to him, smiling, hope in her eyes, "She can live through you. A life she'd always wanted. You'll give this to her?"

"I don't know." Edward grumbled, "You're the psychic."

Edward left Noah's home at 2:40, explaining he needed to pick Maria up from her school. Noah was particularly impressed but Edward only tried to brush it off as superstition, saying comments like, "That's completely unscientific." and "You can't prove that." However, Noah, in all the time Edward has known her, always had a talent for entrancing his attention. All the way to Maria's school, Edward was thinking about Noah's prophecy, thinking of ways it could be wrong, it could be a mistake, anything to unfound it. But like always, Edward couldn't think of anyway. And did Maria know? How was he going to ask her? 'Oh, hey, your grandmother said you'll be my future wife. Did you know that?' Didn't seem to have that genuine tactful feel that Edward liked.

Edward had to wait a few minutes outside of her school for Maria, but she came as she said, and smiled at him while she approached. Around her was a group of girls, all skinny and wearing the same clothes that she was wearing, primped up, perfect even, like a little gaggle of geese. The left side of Edward's mouth twitched up upon their approach.

"Ed, these are my friends from school. The ones you saw last night."

"I see." Edward said sharply, and the girls leaned close to Maria and giggled something that Edward couldn't hear. But Edward pushed himself off from the wall he was leaning on and said, "We better be getting back."

"Right." Maria agreed, and she turned around to wave to her friends. They all giggled again-Why do they do that?-and waved back.

They didn't speak much for majority of the trip. Neither wanted to bring up Noah's prediction. But eventually Maria said, "So..What did you and my grandmother talk about?"

"Me being here." Edward said, "How I got here."

Maria glanced at him while they walked, her bag clutched against her chest, "Anything else?"

"Nothing important." Edward insisted. And he watched Maria sink. Edward tried to ignore it and continue on as if nothing was happening.

But Maria had something else in mind. They were passing through the park, a faster route to Maria's street than going through the crosswalks. The trees had just started to regain their leaves once again after the cold and long winter, but the ground was still soft with rain and months of ice, and there were no children playing in the grass just yet. The walkways were slippery still from the water, and Edward glanced up at the sky to see some dark clouds hanging over, threatening rain for the night. He was pulled from his mental weather report by Maria saying, "My grandmother told me about her prediction."

"Which one? She makes a lot."

"About you and I." Maria said.

Edward stopped walking and stared at the ground before him, hard, not wanting to look the girl in the eye. He let out a large and full sigh, letting his arms be limp around him, and he said, "She did, didn't she?"

"And you too."

"Yes. Me too."

Maria watched Edward for a moment, her eyes were sharp and they were flickering from his eyes to his mouth, watching his expression, his eyebrows move up and down in annoyance and wonder, before she said, "And?"

"And what?" Edward snipped, "And your grandmother always made predictions. That doesn't mean she's correct. She's just good at guessing. But she's unscientific."

"But you're the one who said us earthlings don't believe anything!" Maria countered.

"I meant it differently last time!"

"We were talking about my grandmother reading minds! You believed in her then! You only believe her when it makes sense."

"I only believe in anything that makes sense." Though Edward had to admit, he was using Noah's powers for his advantage and not so much for truth.

"I'd like to go home." Maria snapped out, "You can go run around the city chasing circles."

"I'll do just that." Edward said with venom, and he turned around from where she was standing with her hands on her hips and started to walk away.

Edward's walk didn't lead him very far from where Maria's school was, only because he didn't know where was what and who was whom, but he did find himself diligently watching the television screens of one of the windows in an electronic store. Mainly because he was so engrossed in the fact that the contraption was able to show off live, vibrant pictures perfectly. The screens were large and flat and loud. What would Alphonse have to say about this?

_"Actor Brad Pitt and Actress Angelina Jolie announced their newborn this week! First hand pictures will be shown in Newsweek on Monday!"_

_"Singer Amy Winehouse is in rehabilitation again after another stint with cocaine and alcohol. This is the sixth time she's been admitted into a rehabilitation center…"_

_"Football player Brett Farve will be coming to New York this week for a signing for his new book. Keep your eyes out for details…"_

Edward had his nose scrunched forward and his face pressed against the glass, watching the pictures and clips of these celebrities moving across the screen. Softly he said, "This is a lot different from The War. All I heard about then were rocket scientists and Hitler. Now…Why are they even mentioning these people?"

Edward leaned away from the screen and continued to watch, for more than ten minutes, and still, nothing but updates on famous people popped up on the screen. "Nothing about a war." Edward mumbled, "Nothing about a society or a weapon or even a disaster. Just…Random people…" Edward turned around and watched the people walk up and down the sidewalk in the middle of New York, easily one of the most influential cities that he'll ever come across. They had their heads stuffed into their coats so they didn't have to talk to anyone else on the street, or even they had their nose in an electronic, talking to someone who wasn't on the street. They looked sad, worn out, like their lives were a neverending cyle of work, but a type of work that never benefited them past the hedonistic needs of them and their families. They were wearing black outfits, always, plain, with no patterns or colors or articles that could identify them from another. While Edward stood there, in his brown pants and white shirt, his hand in his pocket, watching the future swerve by him, he realized how much he stood out from the people around him. While his skin was taunt and tan and scarred and worn, their's was smooth and primp and untouched, over moisturized with chemicals that Edward could never hear about. His arms, strong, hard, lean and yet calculated, going through years of martial arts and training, alchemy, and defending; theirs were either too fat or too skinny, never worked past the daily routines of catching the paper and typing on a computer. Even his long golden hair and bright golden eyes, free, wild, unsophisticated yet afire, stood out against all others. And he realized, that the people passing him on the street, going to work and from, were bored.

Bored of this world.

Sighing of frustration and defeat, Edward glanced at the television one last time before pushing through the boring people and walking through the park once more. He approached Maria's apartment building and climbed the stairs to the third floor, and he clapped his hands together to unlock the door before him before walking into her apartment. It was quiet, already at least four in the afternoon, and from what Edward saw, Maria's mother wasn't anywhere to be found. Closing the door and fixing the lock once again, Edward traveled through the apartment to Maria's room.

He hadn't realized what Noah had said during their meeting until this moment.

"She can live through you."

But it was more like: "She could live through your world."

And this damned apartment. So daggy and soggy and old, so smelly, so destroyed, over saturated with years of alcohol and lack of a motherly touch. Never had this apartment had a family dinner, or a meeting with the military, or young boys needing the help of a neighbor. Never had this apartment had a family to live inside it, but people living around each other. Even the walls were boring.

And Edward couldn't forget the DENIED on her application.

He knocked softly before opening her door, and he marveled at how at home he could feel while walking into her room. Though, he must note, it was most likely the individual and not the space that did it. Maria was sitting on her bed, her legs crossed and her nose in a book. She peeked up over the brim of it, like Edward did to Noah, and he realized how much of a dick he could be when he did that.

"Hey." Edward said, and he strode to her.

Maria lowered the book and watched him as he approached, but she didn't say anything. Edward glanced at her before looking to her side, and there he noticed an open manila envelope, addressed to Maria, from Julliard. Strangely, however, her eyes were not puffy or red and her cheeks were not blotched, as they often were when she cried. Her eyes were strong, wild like his, free, and searching. Edward sat down next to her and leaned over to pull open the envelope and take out the rejection letter. "I see now." Edward said softly, stroking the paper with his thumb but not looking at her, "You already knew you were rejected." He glanced up at her again. She was watching him, like she did in the park, eyes searching, flickering, fast, analyzing, commanding answers. "You believe your grandmother. That you'll live in my world."

"It's my only choice now." Maria whispered.

Edward shook his head, the rejection letter clenched in his hands, "You have to understand. You can't live through what people tell you. You can't do what people tell you to do because that's what they tell you, or they have authority or they're wise. You need to learn how to make choices for yourself." Edward looked down at the paper, now ruined, and he said even softer, "You have to follow your own path. Whether or not I'm a part of it."

"I know." Maria whispered.

Edward glanced at her, "And?"

"And what?" Maria playfully snipped, mocking Edward of his speech in the park.

Edward shook his head and looked down, allowing his lips to curve upward slightly. But he stopped himself and said, "What of your family here?"

"They'll survive. This is bigger than us, anyway."

Edward shot his head up and looked at her, understanding laced on her face, and he realized how wise she really could be. He smiled softly, "Yeah. You're right."

Maria leaned over to Edward, who was sitting perpendicular to her, and folded her legs against her chest, resting her head on his shoulder via her forehead. She curled her arms around her body tightly and shivered in her stretching, smiling. Edward wrapped an arm around her, still with the rejection letter in his free hand, and buried his nose in her hair above her ear. With the hand around her shoulders, he reached up and nudged her so she looked at him. Up close, he could never stop marveling at the young woman. She was always a troublemaker, always will be, and he kind of liked it. He leaned down to her and she welcomed his kiss, which was short and chaste but appropriate for a first kiss. More would come later. When they pulled away, Edward said, "We'll leave tomorrow." And Maria, scooting close to him and folding her legs tighter, nodded and put her head on his shoulder.

* * *

><p>I have one more chapter planned and then we're done!<br>I've been thinking of a new story to write. I have a couple more ED/OC ones, but I also have a Roy/OC and a AL/OC one in mind. Any ideas? Thanks for reading so far!


	13. Epilogue

Today was the day.

Edward fluttered his eyes open and glanced around his small room, filled with the golden sun and the dust that loves to settle. Of all things in the morning, Edward loved watching the sun flow into the room and listening to the birds speak to each other loudly, greeting each other, singing to their children, and of course, feeling the young woman curled up against his chest move and sigh in her sleep happily.

Edward tightened his grip on her and curled into her, and he thought about a year previous to this day.

_"Edward." The voice said._

_"Yeah, hi." Edward mumbled, his arm tightly wrapped around Maria's waist. They were currently crossing the Gate and it was God that had greeted the both of them. They had decided to tell Maria's mother and sister of her departure and she would move with him to Amestris. But Edward had been nervous: Would this be allowed? "Maria will be coming with me."_

_"Yes." The voice said._

_Ah, well that was easy. But too easy. "What about Equvilent Exchange?"_

_"Edward." The voice said again, and Maria leaned closer to him, "I taught you a new word before you went to New York."_

_"Equilibrium." Edward whispered._

_"You are the only one in both worlds that know how to pass through my Gate without making a sacrifice, and I want to keep it that way." And the large mirrored doors that they were standing in front of started to open, welcoming the young couple to pass through and start their new lives together. _

Maria was brushing her hair, which had gotten longer in the past year. She had to be careful not to snag the bristles of the brush against her wedding ring as well, so she often flipped her hand out to avoid them. She turned around when Edward walked in buttoning his white shirt, which he continued to wear because of the familiarity of it. He also had a bag over his shoulder. "Almost ready?"

"Yup." She chirped as she went over to the bag and dropped her brush in before giving him a kiss and turning around to gather some more of her things. Edward smiled and started to head downstairs, where he saw Al and Winry sitting at his dining table.

"Morning." Edward said as he went to the cabinet to place a mug on the counter and pour some coffee in it, "Now you'll be fine, Al? We'll only be gone a week."

"Yes, brother." Al assured.

"Great. Mustang will be coming over sometime this week too. He wants you to do something for him in Xing. I left a note."

"Right."

He sipped his coffee and looked at Winry, who had grown older and wiser as well, and said, "Have fun in Central." She was heading over the same day to pick up supplied for her automail business.

"I will. I always do."

Maria hopped down with the bag and tossed it on the floor while also grabbing a mug of coffee from her husband. She was 18 now and he was 20. In modern New York, being married at 18 would count as the end of one's life, a lack of independence and sacrificing a life time of adventures for the sake of being married. However in Edward's time, being married at 18 was normal and accepted, and plus, for the past year Maria had experienced more adventures than anyone could have in their life.

Upon arriving back home a year ago, to the great relief of a very angry Alphonse, Edward and Maria had announced their relationship and not even six months later, they were engaged. The wedding was small and included most of Edward's friends from Central but none of Maria's; her life in New York was over.

Edward and Maria walked out to the shed hand in hand and opened the door. Edward had made the shed his workroom, filling it with his books and all his tools to fix the house. Winry's grandmother had passed on and for financial reasons, the four of them lived together under one roof, but Edward was slowly saving up to build them a new house, where his mother's used to be. For the time being, he went to this shed for quiet and concentration.

Alphonse and Winry followed them all the way up to the door and leaned on the wall while Edward positioned Maria in the middle of the circle, her smiling and shaking her shoulders the whole way. Then Edward walked over to his makeshift counter and picked up his notebook before looking at Alphonse and Winry, "According to my calculations, because of the momentum of Maria's world, we'll be arriving in New York fifty years in the future. That's 2060. But we shouldn't be gone too long."

"Right." Alphonse said, "Be safe."

Edward nodded and walked over to the transmutation circle, with the line down the middle, and kneeled down to clap his hands and press his palms to the surface. Maria held his shoulders and they transmuted themselves through time and space and in to the endless white mass that was The Gate.

"Edward." The voice greeted.

"Hello." Edward said, "We're here to go to New York. For a checkup."

"I've seen alchemy in Brazil." The voice said, "I request you check this."

"Will do." Edward said, "Where's Brazil?"

"It's in South America, Ed." Maria assured.

"Then let's go." Edward said to his wife. And grabbing her around the waist tightly, he walked through the mirrored doors. The feeling was just the same as two years ago, only that when they left the Gate and walked out into the carriage of the train, their surroundings from the last time had changed considerably.

The carriage was still attached to the train, but the train itself wasn't moving like it always used to. Instead it was stationary, in the middle of a junk yard. Maria scrunched up her nose and looked around herself while Edward approached one of the windows to see if they were able to get out without him having to draw attention to them. "I wonder what year it is." Edward murmured out, "I only estimated…"

Maria shrugged and started to knock her knuckled against the plastic, "It'll be years until this thing decomposes, so we don't need to worry. The next time we come, though, we might be underground."

"That's nothing." Edward assured. He pulled open one of the doors with effort and slammed it against the wall, the whole damn thing fell off onto the ground. Sighing in his huff, he turned to his wife and held out his hand, "Ready?"

Maria nodded and approached him, grabbing his hand, and they walked outside. The sky was a darkish brown and daggy, dirty, and very thick with the smells of exhaust and industry. The buildings of New York was still there, as they always been, only sharper against the sky and some a little bit taller. There were clouds hanging down low against the streets and it was very loud, even for Maria. "Wow." Edward said.

"We must have let the whole place go." Maria said.

"That's not a worry." Edward said as he kicked some garbage away, "Society will pick up. We need to get to Brazil, though."

"Right." Maria said, "We'll get on a plane up in the city. We should have enough money."

Edward nodded and led his wife through the junk yard, into the city in which she came from. While glancing at a newspaper on a bench along the way, Edward deduced that they were in year 2057.

I'll tell you now of what happened in their adventures in Maria's world for that week. While going into the city, Edward became painfully aware of out of place they were and the first thing they did was to find some clothes for them to wear for the week. Maria went to the music store to see what hits have come up in 2011 and 2012, and she even visited Julliard, which had been torn down since they left. They split up for a few moments while Edward went to the travel agency to get the tickets, and Maria went to a drugstore to take a pregnancy test. They caught the plane that night and headed to Brazil in search of alchemy.

It took a couple of days but Edward and Maria found themselves in the middle of the Amazon speaking to a small village who had discovered the use of alchemy. Edward had to spend a lot of his time observing them. He merely showed them the basics, they caught on quickly, and he finally wrote down the rules of alchemy and left them, stating that they would learn how his people in Xerxes learned how to cope with alchemy. Giving them the laws was only precaution; so long as they didn't discover how to cross worlds, he didn't have anything to worry about. And he would check up on them in another 50 years.

"Edward?" Maria cooed from under his arm. They were snuggled in a hammock that the village had provided for them for their visit. Edward, who had never seen one before, thought of it as one of the best discoveries in Maria's world and was completely ready fall into a deep sleep in the pouch up in the trees, but perked up slightly upon hearing his name.

"Yeah?"

"I found out my sister died a year ago. Of cancer." She curled up tighter.

Edward squeezed her and sighed, "50 some years and they never found a cure."

"I haven't danced since I left here." Maria reminded him, "Only in the kitchen back home but not actual dancing. Not like we used to. I don't have a dance studio…"

"I'll build you one." Edward said.

"One with mirrors." Maria reminded, "And that shiny hardwood floor. They're good for ballet shoes. And make sure the windows are big."

Edward shoved his butt deeper into the hammock and said, "Yes, alright." And he pushed his head against the pillow, intending to go to sleep.

"But I won't be able to dance much in a couple months."

"Hmm?" Edward said lazily.

"I'll have to start up swimming or something. It's not safe to dance when you're pregnant."

Edward felt the hairs on his skin perk up at the mention of it, and he jerked himself up so that he was sitting straight and staring at his wife, who was almost as confused as he was. "What?" He asked quickly, "You're what?"

"I took the test today."

"You can take a test for that?"

Maria almost laughed but she thought she shouldn't. She nodded her head and said, "I've been having morning sickness for the past couple of weeks and I just thought I'd check."

Edward thought back to when he delivered Elicia. However, though he was fairly disgusted when he was 11, when he thought of the idea of Maria bearing his child, he understood Hughes fanatic obsession with his family, and he pulled Maria even closer, if she could get closer, and buried his head in her shoulder. "Go to bed." He announced, and she did so.

Their son, Maes, would come to be the only bi-worldly human being in existence.

_The End_


End file.
